Saturday, September 30, 2006

Hot Fakes in Korea - Numbers

The Chosun does a breakdown on the growth of counterfeit imports the past couple years:

In 2004, the amount of counterfeit Adidas wear stood at a mere W27 million, but in just two years that has exploded to 3,953 times that amount. Other brands that have seen major increases in sincere flattery in Korea are Piaget (133-fold increase) Gucci (99 times), Frank Muller (9.3) Montblanc (8.8) and Vacheron Constantin (8.2). On the other hand, poor man’s versions of Fendi, Versace, Celine, Tiffany and DKNY products have plummeted, presumably along with the esteem in which the originals are held.

 Stalwarts Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Rolex spawned the largest numbers of knock-offs over the last three years. In 2004, the entire value of intercepted counterfeit merchandise was W205.5 billion, but through July 2006, that number jumped to an alarming W922.3 billion.

What is worth noting here is that these numbers only cover counterfeits COMING IN. The problem is that Korea is also well known as a source of origin for high quality fakes. The real numbers could be much higher.

posted by Dram Man @ 1:12 PM

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