At least one company’s so annoyed with getting knocked off that they’re taking serious anti-counterfeiting measures -
Rather than relying on police cracking down on fakes, Loro Piana’s decided to make their goods un-fakeable.
They’ve created their own metal ring bearing the Loro Piana logo that’ll be sewn into each of their cashmere products. The rings will be engraved with an identifying serial number that can be used to trace the origins of each product, down to which piece of fabric it was cut from and which batch of yarn was used to weave its raw fiber.
We think their initiative is great, even though we think it would be fairly easy for a counterfeiter to just throw any old number onto a metal ring to make the scarf appear genuine at first glance, but then again, maybe the process would just be too expensive to make the fakes worth it.
(In other counterfeit news, we hear Forever 21 is about to be embroiled in a huge fake-related battle – a tipster says an LA lawyer is “representing a handful of names bringing some big suits against them” – care to take some guesses?)
Tags: Fakes, Forever 21, Loro Piana, Vogue UK
The 10 Best YouTube Hair Tutorials
The 10 Best YouTube Makeup Tutorials 
Fashion's Most Stylish Guys Give Mark Zuckerberg an (Almost!) Hoodie-Free Makeover for Facebook's IPO
Style and Substance: 10 Ladies Who Have Proven You Can Have Both
Penis Print Pants Exist and They Cost $150 
well, now I guess it would be a good time to stock up on some of the F21 gear before it’s all gone…
down with the L.A. lawyer, I hope forever 21 prevails!!
Long live fashion for the people
I know who the lawyer is!!
Forever 21 sucks. They rip off clothes line for line, wheras other less expensive lines at least bother to make a few changes.
Those suing F21 include Anna Sui and Diane Von Furstenberg. More power to ‘em.
I agree wth “4:53″ guest. I’ve always had a problem with Forever 21. Store like Payless make things that are semi-reminicent to the designs, but Forever 21 and sometimes Steve Madden copy some of designs directly.
It’s hard since I don’t think designers have the same copyright rights as say, people who make music.
power to the designers!
You also get what you pay for..things look worn after a few washes and rarely ever fit right. Shopping at Forever 21 personally just makes me FEEL fake. Half of everything there is faux designer or faux vintage. I’d rather just buy vintage if I can’t afford the real designer things.
ugh…I had a really long comment that was erased…
but overll in laments terms..
down with Forever 21! go designers!
To guest at 5:37 pm: different folks, different strokes. Personally, I think their clothes fit fine, and my clothes still look fine after several washes…
I lovelovelove Forever 21, but I wish they would stop copying other designers. Some things are just direct copies and they don’t even bother changing details. HOWEVER, they have a lot of things that aren’t copied, and they are fabulous!
I hope Forever 21 and the lawyers reach a mutual decision/settlement, and I hope from this the store will learn a lesson and stop copying! Whatever happened to INSPIRATION?!
Maybe I just don’t know Loro Piana well enough, but those big scarves look way too plain to be “copied.” Do they have a specific pattern or something else to that effect that would be more distinctive and therefore more ripoff-able?
yes, guest at 9:08, the LP scarves have a distinctive and ripoff-able trademark: the words ‘Loro Piana’. With this particular brand, the imitators usually claim to be made of the legendary Loro Piana fabric.
Laymen’s terms.
How ridiculous of Loro Piana to think this will do anything to deter counterfeiters. Counterfeiters make copies of Cartier watches that are virtually undetectable; how hard would it be to make a fake engraved ring?
But it’s still one more step the counterfeiter has to make in producing this, so it might jack the counterfeit price up and consumers will be more discerning and realize it isn’t worth it to buy the fake. :? Wishful thinking?