For college students on tight budgets, buying knockoff handbags can seem like an appealing alternative to buying the more expensive real thing.

Knockoffs of designer labels, however, are against the law and have a more negative impact on others than consumers can often imagine.

“People always feel the need to one-up the next person, and by having a fake label and pretending it’s real is their way of being able to do that,” said junior psychology major Caroline Hein.

With the nation suffering economically, people have pointed the blame in many directions.

America’s black market of counterfeited goods is among these issues.

According to the International Chamber of Commerce, counterfeiting makes up $450 to $500 billion worth of global trade.

One industry that has recently been fighting this crime is the purse industry.

The law primarily targets the vendors, not the buyers, of these goods, but the glitch in this scenario is many consumers don’t realize they are doing something wrong.

A Jan. 9 article on MSNBC.com by fashion author Dana Thomas points out the devastating price of knockoff merchandise.

In the article, titled “Fight against fake designer goods isn’t frivolous,” Thomas recalls a raid she went on with Chinese police in a tenement in Guangzhou.

“[They discovered] two dozen sad, tired, dirty children, ages 8 to 14, making fake Dunhill, Versace and Hugo Boss handbags on old, rusty sewing machines,” Thomas said.

The article also outlines the criminal implications that go along with counterfeit merchandise, such drug trafficking and money laundering, practices undeserving of support from the consumer.

The status of the label is what is desirable to some people, but the price is the main factor in the consumer’s choice to buy real or fake labels.

If more people knew the devastating price that is paid for these cheap bags, they would rethink their purchases.

“I think the designer purses are a waste of money, and I’m not willing to spend an outrageous amount of money on a purse that I’m going to get sick of in a couple months,” Hein said. “I’ve never seen the point in getting a knockoff because everybody knows that it’s a knockoff.”

Freshman psychology major Mariellen Benway owns both real and knockoff purses. “If I can find a real one that isn’t too expensive I will get it, and if I can find a knockoff that looks real enough I will get that too.”

If consumers were more aware of the legal issues surrounding these knockoff handbags, they might rethink their decision to purchase merchandise surrounded by such controversy.

If a designer handbag is what you really want, then the full and ethical price should be paid.

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