It is nowadays, more than ever when the market is flooded with all kinds of fakes. That market is so immense especially in the small countries where people are underpaid and the grey economy is in power. Not only, is the desire for being dressed well driving these people to buy fakes, but also the public pressure to wear designer’s label. In Bulgaria there is unwritten rule which stands “the bigger the label the better”. And if you do so later on you become known in the public space as a “dude” or a “chick”. Actually, this is a very typical characteristic of the Bulgarian culture.
Due to the lack of money in the most families and the national ambition always to be the first and the best in everything, Bulgaria has become one of the best markets for fakes. There are tons of business people in Bulgaria who have their own Malls and they see the perfect opportunity to sell these fakes there as a genuine goods. Moreover, they order trucks full of fake designer clothes and then distribute them on the market as a genuine. According, to many trustful sources a pair of fake jeans of the designer’s label Giorgio Armani costs somewhere between two and four dollars on the black market.
Nevertheless, people have to think before act and in Bulgaria’s case think well before buy. People that are buying these fakes are not reasonably thinking what their actions are causing. On the one hand, a brand is something that has been built for many years and wearing an exact brand has its message over the people. On the other hand, when one is buying an imitation, he or she is getting something that cannot stand up on its own as a product of quality or something which has had its true market price hyped up because it appears to look like something it isn’t.
Often, these goods are of poor quality which is why they are cheap in comparison to the originals. Furthermore, buying all these imitations is bad for our national gross product if I can define it that way. Bulgaria’s skillful and talented designers are starving and factories are closing down. Thus, there will be much more people on the job market looking for an employment which is not even in their field of knowledge. Therefore, there will be a high level of redundancy and actually everything will go down just because we buy fakes to make us look “cool”.
As I mentioned, there are skillful and talented Bulgarian designers who are literally starving. Even though, they have their clothes sewed by people who are in fact sewing for export, and they are offering the lowest price for a brand clothes they do not have many people buying their pieces of work. Mainly, this problem is very broad topic and has lots of aspects but one of them is exactly how to popularize our national dress making industry. Bulgarians have to be persuaded that our “home-made” pieces are of high quality.
Also, it is important to be emphasized on the fact that these clothes also carry with them a meaning. Moreover, in business world no one is actually taking you suit off to see the label. What are people looking at during first impression meetings or in working conditions is you to look clean and shiny and dressed properly according to the business’ dress codes. The standards are simple- black suit and white shirt and in women’s clothing one more detail is if worn skirt it has to be knee length. Another reason why we should not buy replica goods is the organized crime.
By purchasing a designer fake, we are supporting illegal activity. Also, if we are buying something just because it looks good we will not buy fakes because of the poor quality, spilled glue on them and messy threads. Hopefully, soon people will become more cautious and more selective when they are buying clothes. In real life the haute couture dress cannot save you when you are all dirty and smelly. Thus, it becomes clear that looking “cool” and “fashionable” is not all about wearing designers’ label it is also about hygiene. Designers are one of the few things that keep the world spinning.
The collections developed are not only on clothing, they are for car accessories, they are now even mobile phones produced with designer’s logos on them like the LG’s PRADA and GIORGIO ARMANI. In this century where we have the copy right and all kinds of rights to protect ourselves it is a shame that a nation whit such a rich history is facing this problem. Here in Bulgaria we have so many talented, brilliant and gifted people and it is very hard to understand and figure out where this greediness comes from. Probably it is all because of the bad standard of life brought by the government???
