方 璐 FANG LU

There are interesting feature articles on last issue’s Vice magazine on Chinese fashion bootleggers. The articles interview Chinese people in Europe, US and Asia who doing clothes business. Among them there are elder Chinese lady has store in Italy and sends orders to her factory in China; there are also younger Chinese who also produce goods professionally in China but make profit through online selling.

They are perhaps eventually the same business model but only the younger Chinese business dealer were not shame about their products are bootlegs of name brands.

Vice: So what do you sell?

Filip: Sweaters, jeans, jackets, and caps by Bathing Ape, Billionaire Boys Club, Red Monkey, LRG, D-Squared, 10 Deep, and Artful Dodger.

Vice: And they’re all fake?

Filip: No, they’re replicas. I don’t like to use the word “fake,” because they’re made really well. The other day I heard that even satellites have “fake” Chinese parts in them. Nobody can tell the difference anymore. Same with my stuff.

(from Viceland.com)

My visiting the clothes wholesale market in Guangzhou proves above saying. Most of the clothes business in the wholesale market operates with a tiny store front and yet their own factory in the back. Of course most of them are replicas of popular brands. They are business of perfect replication that price become the only difference of the bootleg and the authentic ones. How much difference? A Bathing Ape jacket goes about $350, and Billionaire Boys Club jacket is around seven hundred. A copy of Bathing Ape jacket in Guangzhou will between 80-100RMB, which is $10-20 US.

On Bathing Ape’s official website, a exclusive download-only website, the first page slogan is “Don’t buy the fake product…we don’t do whole sale.” Certainly fake Bathing Ape (a.k.a. Fapes) products has been a concern for this unique designer’s brand. My friend Lu Jun, who’s a hypebeast that collect toys and sneakers told me that Bathing Ape used to have factory in China, but they moved out very soon because their design leaked to the knock-off market just like other brands.

Bootleg clothes is similar to many other side products like pirate movies, but suppling a larger market than domestic China. I believe in fashion more than I believe in brands.

If it is like what A Bathing Ape promote for their high price jacket, their products are about creating a culture, then why a culture shouldn’t be as wide spread and apply on as many consumers as possible. It probably can’t because one, the young clothing designers not only want to create a culture, but precisely it’s a elite ‘underground’ culture; second the price of the brand is not affordable to every youth.

Of course it can’t stop youth who want to be “cool” and can’t afford authentic jackets; nore can it stops same jacket is being made and sell with lower price and large quantity. Essentially appearance comes first for culture of fashions, even it is a imitated appearance.