Chinese fake-away - Telegraph

Apparently China is clamping down on those who make and sell counterfeit fashion. Then why is one of Beijing's key tourist destinations so flagrantly flogging fake luxury goods, from 'Hermès' to 'Rolex'?

BY David Nicholls | 30 September 2011

While my colleagues are focused on the runways of Paris Fashion Week, I too have spent the day perusing the likes of Vuitton, Dior and Hermès.

But I'm Beijing, and the monogrammed luggage and Birkin bags that I've been looking at are examples of the enormous trade in counterfeit designer products that continues to be a major draw for western tourists.

We are well accustomed to hearing about pirated designs coming out of the Far East. Most recently 22 fake Apple stores were discovered and shut down in China and there are regular news stories of predominantly European and American brands starting to take legal action to cease the production and distribution of imitation products. As a result China is beginning to crack down on counterfeit products.

There's clearly a long way to go, because make no mistake - the fake designer trade in Beijing is booming.

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Our photographer Philip and I spent the morning in Beijing's Silk Street market. My guidebook tells me that this is Beijing's third most popular tourist destination. Once the mesmerizing Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square have been ticked off our to-do lists, Westerners go on the hunt for cut-price clobber.

Apparently a deal was struck five years ago between the market's owners and several European luxury brands where the latter were promised that tenants found violating trademark rights would be evicted.

On our visit however, we saw market traders openly selling imitation Moncler, D&G, Louis Vuitton, Céline, Armani, Rolex, Apple, Max Mara, Chloé, Chanel and Goyard.

In fact, this six floor indoor market space is almost entirely dedicated to fake designer goods, and its warren of stalls draw up to 60,000 punters a day.

Each floor is dedicated to its own product type - one for bags, one for electronics and watches, children's clothing and toys etc. The choice is overwhelming. It's hard sell and in your face. (Philip was hit twice with a calculator by a trader who failed to convince him to buy). And it would be a lie to say that there isn't something intoxicating about the perceived potential for a bargain. Some of the copies were extraordinary.

At one point we asked to see some 'Hermès' and were escorted into a back room - a beautiful wood paneled space that looked every bit the up market boutique. Here the Birkin and Kelly bags in myriad shades were lined up. They came tagged and labelled. There were big orange Hermès boxes and shopping bags.

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In London an Hermès Kelly bag will set you back at least £4,200. Here, the initial price for a fake version is £500. When we were ready to leave, without buying anything, we found the door locked. And the traders wouldn't unlock it until they completed their sales pitch. The price dropped to £90.

Of course, the irony was not lost on me that the reason that I'm in Beijing is to cover the city's inaugural Design Week. This weeklong festival is a celebration of the best of Chinese creative talent, from furniture and product design to architecture and some fashion. It is the antithesis of what the Silk Street market stands for.

I don't know what the future holds for the Silk Street market and the numerous similar outlets. The Chinese government will no doubt continue to be put under pressure by international brands to stamp out those who violate their intellectual copyright. How effective this will be remains to be seen. But for the moment, any sign of acquiescence seems little more than lip service.

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