For some rich New York women, counterfeit luxury bags may be more popular than the real thing. sangeetaskurtz reports on the high-end replica market and the tight-knit community of obsessives on the hunt for the perfect fake
Lisa, a 38-year-old Manhattan woman, has this superrich friend. She has a massive Birkin collection, a $10 million dollar house in the Hamptons, and flies everywhere in private jets. “I just assumed everything was real,” says Lisa. Then one day, the friend lets her in on a secret. Those Birkins? They’re fake. She gets them at “Tupperware parties” for replica designer bags.
Founded in 2016, the sub-Reddit has nearly 200,000 members, making it neither the largest nor oldest replica community on the internet. It is, however, tight-knit with a distinct culture marked by a kind of derision for authentic goods and the belief that buying replicas is a way of subverting the system and sticking it to the man; reps “take a shit on the you can’t sit with us mentality of designer brands,” as one RepLady put it in a post.
And in spite of her household’s seven-figure income, Lisa loves a good sale. “My friends that spend a lot on authentics have either never worked a day in their life or they’ve married rich guys,” she says. “But if you’re working hard for your money, you don’t want to spend it on stupid stuff. In New York especially, wealthy people just have more interesting things to do with their money. They invest in crypto. They reinvest in their businesses. They invest in their children.
Getting a good rep requires a certain amount of savvy, and while the internet is one way to do that, some New Yorkers turn to one of the city’s many middlemen. While there’s a markup, it’s less “sketchy,” says one buyer. “There’s a veneer of legitimacy because it’s an actual person,” explains Lisa. “You’re not just sending money to China hoping you get a bag in return.”
Although replicas are something of an open secret, buyers do worry about repercussions. “I don’t want to be caught red-handed with thousands of dollars of Chinese merchandise,” frets one in the midst of building a second closet for her fakes. “You could get in minor trouble for that.”
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