Of Questionable Authenticity

My mom was always making parinig that she wanted a longchamp bag like mine. I always dismissed the idea of getting her one because I know she only wears bags with a gazillion outer and inner pockets/compartments. But her birthday was fast approaching and I'm running out of ideas, so I browsed my instagram feed, aka, online shopping store, and looked for the longchamp bag seller with glowing and positive feedback. And yes, her bags were marketed as authentic. 

I initially wanted to get two le pliage long handle in fuchsia and paper. It was pretty cheap at Php2,900, but I thought the price was ok since I had friends buy me one from Europe for around Php3200++. I thought it's a bargain because years back, I got a bilberry medium le pliage long handle from Rustan's Makati at Php7600 -- I can justify it, but it's a long story. My sister still looks down on it saying she got (a fake) one from Divisoria for Php300, which she says she does not regret. I seriously doubt it. 

I was about to place my order when this instagram seller posted a Celine Mini Luggage "overrun" priced at Php18,500. I've seen those bags from travels abroad and none costs below 80grand. I had to pause there and think. Oh, but I still have to clean the house and do the grocery and change the bedsheets in mommy's room before she arrives, and absolutely no time to shop, so WTH, I placed an order for one (instead of two) large long handle. 

I sent the payment for the bag on Tuesday, but I was only able to inform the seller the following day. I looked up her terms on instagram and found she ships on Saturday only. I needed the bag on Friday, so I asked if she could send it Thursday, the latest. She said she can ask her "supplier" to do that, but  then she won't be able to check the bag first. I was puzzled and asked what she meant. I assumed she has to check if they're sending me the right color and size, but she said she also inspects the bag first if it has "damage or something." Alarm bells were going off again; how can an authentic longchamp bag have defects? 

Then again, what can I still do? I already placed my order and sent the payment. 

Anyways, despite the pleas for an early shipping, I still got the bag the following week, on a Monday. Like it was shipped on a Saturday, not a Thursday. But I no longer made it an issue, because she did say she only ships on Saturday, and hey, if I wanted that bag on time, I should have ordered it say, 2 weeks back. 

I liked the bag the moment I opened the package. It has, after all, all the markings of an authentic longchamp le pliage. The inside color was white, which is the right color for a fuchsia. It has plastic washers on the buttons, the leather has the diamond pattern you read about in blogs, and even the "ykk" mark (and another mark I could not capture on my point-and-shoot camera) on the zipper:

The seller was asking me if I liked it (I know it was only a text, but I could feel the enthusiasm in her voice. I mean, text). I was about to reply yes, but saw something that does not feel quite right. I pulled out my longchamp from Rustan's and started comparing:

Leather handle.

I had to follow up "fake" with a question mark because I'm really no expert in bags. The most I can do is be fair and compare it with what I can guarantee is an authentic longchamp, having bought it  myself at Rustan's. I would not even compare it with the Europe-bought bags because I did not buy them myself (although I do trust my friends got me authentic ones).

Blogs authenticating bags said that the leather handle should be flat instead of tubular. My instagram-bought bag got this right. But as shown above, the original longchamp has a clean finish, whereas the right one has leather trimmings showing. I don't know if it disappears in time.

The back of the leather flip cover should be smooth and not hairy. My "original" pic looks hairy, but it's actually only dirty (sorry), because it's my beater bag, and it has accompanied me to six countries, backpacking and taking public transportation, and getting stuck at state borders. Anyway, the kinda fake bag does have the smooth leather finish, but the indentation marks of the jockey on a horse can hardly be seen. Actually, only the back legs of the horse is visible. The rest of it is a flat, smooth surface.

Well, I'm not too sure about this, but I think the number "1" on the kinda-fake bag is starting to fade. On the other hand, I had the Rustan's bag for more than 3 years now, and all the letters and numbers have no fading parts. And God knows how horribly I've treated this bag. At one point, I had my lunch and my flip-flops in there together. 

Did I say my kinda-fake longchamp has the diamond pattern mark of authenticity? Well, I'm re-thinking that now. When I saw the close-ups pics, the leather on the right kinda screams fake, right? But, wow, the jockey on the horse even looks more detailed than the original bag on the left. 

At first I thought I'd let it go, after all, I did know the risks I was taking with these online transactions, and I paid a pittance for it. But a part of me just could not let it rest, and so here's how I replied to my instagram seller:

And there goes that factory overrun defense again! I was just pissed beyond belief. Her reply made me think about the "overrun" Celine Mini Luggage she posted a while back, aka, my first warning sign. It reminded me too of The North Face backpack I bought in Ho Chi Minh.  Everyone (in the Philippines) was saying that TNF backpacks were cheaper  in Vietnam because it was made there, and if you want it dirt-cheap, go to Ben Thanh Market because they sell authentic TNF, with very negligible factory defects. I haggled back then together with another (unsuspecting) British tourist and got my backpack for around Php2,000 (it was selling in Manila TNF shops for Php6,000). That bag too, has all the markings of an original TNF, complete with the plasticwares that whistles (so you can call for help when you're out backpacking in the wilderness?). But I took a good look around Ben Thanh, and there were probably a hundred shops there saying their TNF backpacks are factory-runs but authentic (authentic, not class A or AAAAAAA). And that's just Ben Thanh, so, come on, can there really be that many factory defects all over Ho Chi Minh? I don't think so. The Vietnamese lady who sales-talked me even gave me her card, saying she exports these bags to the Philippines (where it's probably sold again as overruns). So there, unless you're in an official outlet shop, don't kid yourself and say that bag is authentic. 

I no longer sent the pictures to the instagram seller because, what's the point? She is probably convinced she's selling authentic items (sometimes you have to give them the benefit of a doubt). Plus my mom adored the bag for like, 24 hours, tops, before tossing it out and saying she hates it because it doesn't have pockets and compartments. This whole fake bag thing probably worked out for the best.