They say it is better to remain silent and look like an idiot than to speak and confirm it. We don’t know what Yolanda Díaz thought this week when, instead of letting the water run in a family controversy, she decided to intervene, assuming that a profile like hers could not be involved in a news story that included a luxury American brand. The Minister of Labor thought it was a good idea to inform that the aforementioned bag that her family companion was carrying, where in a close-up of the photograph that went viral you could clearly read “The Tote Bag Marc Jacobs” was not an original design, but had been purchased at a flea market. That is to say, he had not spent the more than 400 euros that these accessories can cost, but rather he had paid much less and, what was perhaps more important, he had not contributed to financing a large American luxury company (at more INRI).
The media impulse and the “what will they say” got to Díaz, who did not think about where this unnecessary clarification could take him. Because, instead of investing in qualified work that helps the development of one of the largest industries, with thousands of workers dependent on it, it opted to finance piracy. According to the Intellectual Property Office of the European Union, Spanish fashion loses 1 billion every year due to piracy and, throughout the union, more than 11,000 jobs. Díaz, from what he confessed this week, contributes to this.
The controversy bag is one of the most popular in markets that sell imitation bags. One of the most popular is the Neverfull by Louis Vuitton (from 1,550 euros for the original), a tote model with the famous canvas of the French firm. Along with it, the 11.12 from Chanel (which sells for 10,300 euros and which many confuse with the 2.55) is another of the most sought-after on the illegal market, as is the case with Prada’s nylon models (from 1,650 euros), which are among the most sought after in copy bazaars.
There are keys to knowing if we are dealing with a fake model, some guidelines that would perhaps help Díaz understand why it is important to buy legally. For example, in this type of bags you have to pay close attention to the seams. In the originals, these are usually given by artisans who know how to make practically perfect stitches, while the “fakes” usually have more irregular ones, which can cause them to end up unraveling, also making the bag unusable, contaminating more. Many of these, like the Louis Vuitton Neverfull, carry internal quality control seals, where we can know which factory made it (for example, if we find the initials AC in Louis Vuitton, we know that it is a Spanish workshop). In the copies, these stamps are of poorer quality, with off-center and less clear letters. And the same thing happens with the internal labels, clearly inferior in quality. The skin, the feel of the surface or the drawing that these designs may have are also usually different.. The handles and hardware usually clearly reveal the authenticity of the pieces. The former usually have brighter colors in the fake ones than in the original versions and the hardware, as is the case with Chanel, is usually of much lower quality and with worse finishes.