Don't Become A Victim of Designer Counterfeiting

Over the past decade, the law enforcement agencies have been taking a problem which has been coined the ‘drug trade of the 21st century'. The problem is designer counterfeiting, in particular designer jean counterfeits. With demand for designer jeans increasing over recent years, prices of genuine designer jeans are on the increase with a pair of jeans setting you back somewhere from fifty pound to in excess of three hundred pounds. However with the recent economic recession, many people are finding it hard to find the money to buy the designer jeans they want. Criminals have identified this and are so called designer jeans at knock down prices.

These reduced price designer jeans really are too good to be true. The jeans are actually mass produced abroad to look identical to the originals but use lower quality materials and construction methods, with some even fuelling the child labour markets overseas.

The aim of this article is to give you important information about how to spot whether designer jeans are genuine or counterfeit to stop you becoming a victim.

One of the tell tale signs of counterfeit jeans is where they are being sold. Genuine jeans will be found in multiple bricks and mortar retail outlets and on reputable websites. In order to tell whether a website is reputable or not, there are a few things to look for. Firstly a reputable website will have an address displayed in a prominent position – usually on the ‘contact us' page. Secondly look for the payment gateway being used. This is where and how the payment is being made and reputable websites will use gateways such as Paypal, WorldPay, Protx or Google checkout to name just a few.

Due to the current economic climate, many people are looking to auction sites to buy both new and second hand items. But unless you're looking for an unusual or rare pair of designer jeans, it's best to avoid buying new designer jeans through this medium if the price is considerably lower than shop prices. If you do choose to buy designer jeans from an auction website, buy from a genuine seller with positive reviews.

It's also best to avoid street sellers and market traders as these are one of the popular ways to sell counterfeit goods. Due to their low overheads, they make a good profit on selling counterfeit jeans and as they generally have short selling stints, and don't issue invoices, it's virtually impossible to return your jeans once you realise they are counterfeit.

When looking at designer jeans, there are a number of key things to look for to determine whether they are counterfeit or not. Firstly, check the thickness of the material. Unless they are a particularly thin style for summer, designer denim jeans are made of a thick denim fabric where as counterfeits are much thinner denim.

The stitching is also a good element to check. In designer jeans, stitching will be in straight neat lines and uniform in size. However counterfeit jeans may have slanted stitching and  the stitches may be different lengths. Some stitching may even be done in different coloured threads within the same garment.

The labels are the final element to check. If you have bought a pair of designer jeans in the past, you are likely to recognise the branding and labelling used. Counterfeit styles are likely to have different labels, often using a slightly different logo or brand colour than the genuine article.

Hopefully this article will have given you the key information you need in order to protect yourself from being a victim of counterfeit mens designer jeans.