Everything gets easier once you find “your person” — at least that’s what they say on the message boards. Subreddits like the euphemistically named r/RepladiesDesigner keep having their posts deleted, and people don’t share information openly: they might do so by DM, but likely they won’t share anything at all. Every so often, a picture of a beautiful bag will pop up with a celebratory message: “Just obsessed!” or “How did I do??” With supple-looking leather and painstakingly crafted labels, these are not the fake handbags you’d find set out on a white blanket by a surly young man in a tourist-trap street during your Italian vacation. Think $800 investments rather than $18 impulse buys. The hardware is the right weight, the monogram crisp enough to read from across the street. Sometimes they even come with convincing-looking “receipts”.
Bags like this are hard-won, well-designed, top-dollar “superfakes”, procured through clandestine Whatsapp conversations with sellers based in China who have connections to factories specializing in “replica fashion”. And in a world where a Bottega Veneta can set you back $45,500 and the Hermes resale market is thriving to the chagrin of the company’s CEO, they’re becoming more and more appealing.
