Yes kids, I am a lady who lunches and was in full regalia yesterday at the Hearst Tower for the 7th Annual Anti-Counterfeiting Luncheon. The illegal knock-off industry is growing, becoming increasingly more sophisticated and difficult to police. The rise of on-line sales is creating a new set of challenges beyond the Canal Street hustle. The task to harness the illegal trafficking of these fake designer goods is daunting, to say the least. The bottom line is we all must do our part to curtail, seize, not support, not purchase and monitor our ports. The list of things we all can do, should be publicized more readily as a first step. I will say however, that all the fashion magazines and websites should stop paying homage to every D-List actress for wearing a friggen designer purse. I cannot tell you how many times a day I get emails from publicists and companies featuring some quasi-nobody wearing that a certain pair of shoes, handbag, dress, coat, accessory or whatever in the hopes of driving it to “IT” status.
Now here's a spokesmodel for you. Yikes.
Today, there is a lead story in the New York Post about the lady who will set her alarm clock at 4AM to watch the Royal Wedding. No, not because she gives a hoot about Kate and William, but because she will sketch Kate Middleton’s wedding dress so it can be knocked off by noon. Well, honey that is not a good bit of news for an industry that is being hijacked by a bunch of increasingly sophisticated and shrewd pirates. Sure, we should police all the counterfeiters because it is illegal. And Mayor Bloomberg wants to put into law that if you are a purchaser of counterfeit goods, you will be fined $1,000. But we also have a responsibility to monitor our editorial content as well. No one got more notice than Snooki for wearing a Gucci bag a couple of months back. Now, say what you want about the Little Meatball, but that kind of attention drives the demand for knock offs, period. We all have a hand in why the demand for these products has hit a fever pitch. The task at hand is to monitor ourselves as well as demand more from our government to help curtail this booming, illegal industry.
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