Counterfeit

Counterfeits

Counterfeiting has always been a massive issue with luxury designer brands. Cheap imitations of products that aren't always affordable to buy, however everyone wants these products and end up buying a cheap imitation of the product rather than the real one. This lessens sales for the brand itself and brings down the exclusivity of the brand and the original luxury image. On the reverse side many customers who pay good money for authentic Dolce & Gabbana goods could buy something second hand with the seller pretending it is real when really it is fake. This means a lot of customers who want authentic Dolce and Gabbana ends up with fake counterfeit products.

According to the article "Faking It" by The Guardian, an average of 11% of products in circulation and being produced are fake. Many years ago, Dolce and Gabbana introduced a hologram system to its collections. "The security hologram comes with an authenticity certificate and with a label attached to the outfit', says a spokesperson for the company "it has considerably reduced the production of counterfeited goods since it is quite difficult to reproduce." However, it wasn't long before even these can be copied very well. 

This hasn't gotten rid of counterfeits altogether. For Dolce and Gabbana, a massive issue is more with mass production, including fast fashion.  Majority of the fake goods are from the Far East, including Taiwan, South Korea, China, Indonesia and the Philippines. Also, some counterfeits are being made in Italy in Tuscany and Campania. Like the UK experts they are too finding that fake goods are becoming increasingly convincing. Most often T-shirts, caps, jeans, and sunglasses. The company employs legal members to deal with counterfeit goods and trademark products and designs. However, in recent days Dolce and Gabbana doesn't use holographic in their labels only sometimes in their optical frames.

It is illegal to  sell counterfeit goods in the UK however it is not against the law to unknowingly buy or be in possession of such goods. If you purchase something knowing it is a counterfeit you are breaking the law. 

 I think its really important that Dolce and Gabbana continues to employ legal advisors and help to make sure their designs are trademarked and no one can counterfeit their designs, I think it would be impossible to completely stop counterfeiting of the brand however I think that it can be reduced.