What Happens When You Buy Fake Designer Goods?

No matter how affordable or how seemingly genuine a knockoff can be, it's never a good idea to purchase one (for many obvious reasons). Currently, counterfeit products are creating a negative impact on European fashion industries and the issue has only gotten worse over the years. The issue with knockoffs has always been a high concern for European countries. According to the latest report, issued by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), counterfeit products are costing European brands 9.7% of their total sales annually. To put it into perspective, that's equivalent to $28.7 billion a year. And the worse part is, the losses aren't just stopping there — the OHIM has estimated the statistics to increase towards $47.2 billion in total sales, which also means about 518,000 jobs will be lost.

Europe has the potential to make $8.8 billion in revenue with their genuine goods, but because two-thirds of counterfeit goods are continuously being produced by China, they continue to struggle. Out of all the European countries, Italy is getting hit the hardest because not only are they coming out of a six year stagnation and recession, but they also produce 70% of the textiles that are used for the clothes and shoes they produce.

About a month ago, France was expressing their similar frustrations with counterfeit products. However they made the claim that fashion pieces require inspiration and creativity to produce and simply biting off those ideas to create and sell knockoffs create dire consequences for artists such as fashion designers.

Hopefully, knockoff enthusiasts will soon realize the global effects of their purchases.

Images: Getty Images (3)