DUPES VS REPLICAS : WHAT WOULD YOU GO FOR?
As a fashion aficionado, I must confess without any shame that I have purchased a certain number of replica handbags in my life. Not just any cheap knock off bags, but true seven-star mirror image replica handbags. The reason behind me buying replicas was that for a couple of hundred dollars, until a few years ago, you could not find yourself a decent handbag. I was mostly shopping the style and the quality. Indeed, Dupes bags I was receiving were mostly made from genuine leather, with high quality hardware and first class craftsmanship. I agree that the logos of luxury handbag manufacturers on those bags was definitely appealing : I had nothing against showing ostensibly those brand names, since they gave me a certain status. But again, my main motivation for shopping replica handbags was style and quality.
Legal dupes or fake designer goods, that is the question
Now we all agree that selling replicas is not legal. Therefore buying those for your own use is somehow “tolerated” but definitely not encouraged. I do not think buying a replica handbag for my own use from time to time made me a dangerous criminal though.
When my regular handbag replica online vendor got shut down (yes, it does happen since brands are fighting those fraudulent companies) I decided to stop buying replicas. Why? Well, after seeing cheap knock off handbags my sister in law was buying online, I reasoned out I might have been lucky enough to find the best vendor in the world. But those days were over : when they got out of business, I knew I would never find again the same quality. It was time to pull out and move ahead.
After doing some research online, I got to know about bloggers shopping the style while avoiding replicas. Their secret : dupe handbags. Although the word dupe somehow sounds underground, dupe bags are 100% legal. A dupe handbag is a bag that looks very much like an original designer handbag but that does not carry the logo or trademark of that designer brandname. If dupe handbags were a beverage, I would say they look and taste like alcohol, but without any alcoholic content.
How can dupe bags be legal if they are just copies without logos and trademarks?
Well what I should have mentioned is that dupe bags, apart from logos and trademarks are not 100% mirror image copies of their original versions. A dupe bag usually has a number of minor differences compared with the original. This number varies depending on the legislation in each country. In the USA a dupe handbag needs to have a minimum of 7 differences to be legal. Most of the time an untrained eye might not spot out these differences at a glance.
After spending some time online looking for the perfect vendor, I was recommended to look for dupe handbags at Baginc. This is how I made my first order for my very first dupe bag : a full leather Hermes Birkin dupe. A few days later I received, delivered to my door, a stunning handbag : great quality grained leather in a stunning Hermes red shade, impressive hardware and a look to die for. And trust me, it came at less than half the cost of the replicas I used to buy. I was just impressed.
Would I buy replicas (if I could) vs dupes?
Even if my replica supplier was still around, I trust I would not consider his handbags for all models. Let me explain. For Hermes bags for instance, I would rather go for dupes : I would get similar quality for a better price and at 99%, the same look. For LV monogram handbags though, this would be another ball game : LV inspired monogram patterns look cheap… So I would definitely rather buy a replica. Another good reason would be that Baginc does not offer any monogram item, most probably for the same reasons I have mentioned.
Dupe handbags are a great way to steal the looks at an affordable price while standing in line with the law.
I have not yet decided what would be my next dupe order : I have noted my favorite dupe supplier came up with a full ray of new colors for Hermes Birkin. I am already totally in love with the light blue one. Let me know how you like it…
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