Counterfeit Purses are products that are sold as brand items without the authority of the legitimate brand name owner.

One company estimates losses up to $70 million to counterfeit purses.

Source: Caitlin Ingrassia, “Knockoffs Go Suburban,” Wall Street Journal, January 16, 2004.

In 2009, luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton initiated action that lead to nearly 9,500 seizures of counterfeit goods bearing their logo. The total counterfeit goods seized was 31 percent higher than the 2008 total.

Source:  “Knock-offs catch on,” The Economist, March 4, 2010.

According to a study from MIT, 46 percent of buyers of counterfeit purses ends up purchasing the authentic purse within two and a half years.

Source:  Meg Tirrell, “Fake Louis Vuitton Bags Don’t Fool Anyone,” BusinessWeek, December 7, 2009.

According to the Guardian, fashion label Burberry is believed to be the most copied fashion label by counterfeit manufacturers, ahead of labels such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci.

Source: “Counterfeit fashion: The most copied designer labels,” Guardian, March 17, 2009.

11 percent of all counterfeit goods seized by United States Customs Officials were handbags, wallets and backpacks.  The street value of these counterfeit products was $29.6 Million.

Source:  US Customs and Border Protection, “Intelletual Property Rights, Seizures Statistics: FY 2008,” January 2009.

Handbag company Dooney & Bourke receives 60 counterfeit purses a week  from people asking the company to repair the purse under warranty.

Source: Michelle Woo,”Cheap designer knockoffs come at a high price,” Arizona Republic, October 1, 2006.

In 2007, luxury brand Louis Vuitton conducted over 7,600 anti counterfeiting raids and shut down more than 750 websites selling counterfeit Louis Vuitton products.

Source:  Robert Klara, “The Fight Against Fakes,” Brandweek, June 27, 2009.

Fashion company Louis Vuitton reportedly spends $18.1 million each year in its anti-counterfeiting operations.  In 2007, it had forty lawyers on staff and contracted 250 outside private investigators to assist in preventing its brand from counterfeits. 

Source: Dana Thomas, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, (New York,Penguin Press. 2007), pg. 276-277.

Source: Evelyn Thesis, “Counterfeit purses find eager buyers at parties,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, December 17, 2006.

At least 1 million counterfeit purses and wallets are estimated to be manufactured in South Korea annually.

Source: Velisarios Kattoulas, ” Counterfeiting: Bags of Trouble,” Far Eastern Economic Review, March 21, 2002.