(轉) Why settle for the real thing when you can queue for a genuine fake?

矮子

It is the latest must-have fashion accessory in Beijing, where every girl wants an Anya Hindmarch “I’m not a Plastic Bag” bag. The trouble is that the authorities have banned it from sale after chaotic scenes in Hong Kong, where several women were trampled in the rush to lay their hands on one of only 1,300 that went on sale.

Yet fashion-conscious Chinese are confident that they can obtain a bag and have no qualms that it will almost certainly be fake. Yesterday taobao.com, the internet auction site, was plastered with advertisements for the bleached cotton, ecologically friendly shopper.

The sellers openly describe the bags as “A products” — a codeword for counterfeit goods. But this appears to prove no deterrent to trendsetters.

Zheng Lu, 24, lives in Beijing and is eager to buy a bag as soon as it becomes available. She will not have to wait long, for China’s massive counterfeit industry is already busy copying the genuine article, which went on sale in Hong Kong last week. She said: “Although this bag is an advocate for the environment, I think what comes first is fashion. A lot of Hollywood stars are using it and the price is cheap.” She regretted that the chaos in Hong Kong had resulted in a decision not to sell the bag in China, where two billion plastics bags are used every day: “Now I’ll buy the fake online, even though this ‘A product’ is more expensive than the original.”

Qin Xiao, a dealer based in Beijing, expects to have counterfeit bags in his store by the weekend. He will have 996 to sell at 139 yuan (£9) each — compared with the £5 price tag in London. He has already handled a large number of calls and has appointments with girls from Beijing and other cities that want to be in the frontline of fashion by Saturday.


He told The Times: “These bags are exactly the same as the real one: the weight, size and fabric. Everything is the same. Anyway, the real ones are made in China too.”

This will be Mr Qin’s second batch, but his first for the domestic retail market. He exported his first order — also all counterfeits — including sales to Britain. The quality of the counterfeits is driving up the price of the genuine article. The real thing is on sale on online auctions for at least 400 yuan in China, to differentiate it from its fake counterpart. Some Chinese sellers are offering a real “I’m not a Plastic Bag” online for as much as 3,250 yuan.

By Jane Macartney in Beijing   From The Times   July 19, 2007


　  蝴蝶夫人（Anya Hindmarch）印著“我不是塑料袋”（I'm not a Plastic Bag）字樣的環保袋成為北京最新的必備時尚配飾，每一個女孩都想擁有。問題是經過香港的混亂場面后有關方面已經禁止它在大陸出售了，香港有幾名婦女在搶購僅限量出售1300只袋子的時候被踩踏在地。
　　不過時尚的中國人有信心她們會得到一個這樣的袋子，而且，毋庸質疑，當然是假貨。7月18日的淘寶拍賣網上就醒目地張貼了它的廣告。賣家公開地描述為“A貨”——假貨的代名詞。但這阻止不了潮流人士。
　　鄭露（音譯，Zheng Lu），24歲，生活在北京，只要一有機會她就會去買一個這個袋子。她不用等很久，因為中國巨大的制假業已經忙于抄襲真品。她說：“盡管這個袋子是提倡環保的，但我認為首先它是時尚的。許多好萊塢明星都用它，而且價格便宜。”她對于香港的混亂使得這款產品無法在大陸銷售感到很遺憾。“現在我打算在網上買仿制品，即使A貨比真貨還貴很多。”
　　秦曉（音譯，Qin Xiao）是北京的一個生意人，這個周末假貨就可以在他的店里上架。他進了996個袋子，每個售價139元（9英鎊），而倫敦真品的標價是每個5英鎊。他已經接到了許多的電話，并和北京及其它城市的女孩子們約好了將會在周六把她們送上時尚前沿。
　　他告訴《泰晤士報》的記者：“這些袋子實際上和真的一樣，重量、尺寸和材質，全都一樣。畢竟，真貨還不一樣是中國制造的嘛。”
　　這是秦曉的第二批貨，但卻是他第一次做國內零售。他的第一批貨（當然全是假的）全都出口了，包括銷往英國。假貨的質量驅動了真品的價格。真品在中國網上拍賣至少400元，這樣就和假貨區別開來。有些中國賣家在網上出售真正的“我不是塑料袋”價格高達3250元。