2006/10/17 Jenny's C6 Speech

LV’s Secrets

Can any one tell me which brand does this pattern belong to? That’s right. It belongs to LV, also called Louis Vuitton. Do you like LV bag, wallet, purse, or handbag? I see some of your eyes are shining. I believe that there are a lot people in this world want to buy and use LV’s products.

However, there are so many fake LV products in the market. Do you know how to tell a fake LV bag? I would like to share some clues to identify whether the product is a real LV or not. We can know the difference between real LV and fake LV from the material, stitching, smell, pattern, stamp, hardware, and serial number.

Clue No. 1: the material. The real LV monogram is specially made of a material that can prevent fire and scratches, so that the leather has a rough touch. For the fake LV bags, the material can not prevent fire, and the material is quite smooth too. It has a great reflection. Briefly, the canvas of the bag should not be too soft or stiff, or "oily" or shiny.

Clue No. 2: the stitching. All LV bags have even and neat finished stitching. The stitching on the handles should use yellow thread. The sides of the handles should be a shiny, glazed red. The fake LV bags have poor stitching, mismatched seams, and a cheap looking zipper.

Clue No. 3: the smell. There is a unique strong leather smell, especially with the new one, even though you used the bag over a span, there exists a leather smell. But the fake bag used the imitation leather, like synthetic leather, which is like the plastic smell.

Clue No. 4: the pattern. All LV bags come with their own unique pattern. The "LV" monogram should have irregular brown lines through the gold-colored letters, and a flower pattern. Fake monograms may be a solid color or look too green or orange.

Clue No. 5: the stamp. All LV bags have the manufacturer stamped on the bag and the stamp “made in France” sign should not be in the outside but the inside same with the serial number. You may see “made in France”, “made in Spain”, “made in Italy”, or “made in U.S.A.”, but not “made in China”.

Clue No. 6: the hardware. All LV bags have “LV” logo on its hardware such as zippers, rivets and padlock. The zipper pull should be brass hardware, heavy to the touch.

Clue No. 7: the serial number. All authentic LV bags have a serial number lightly embossed in a hidden spot in the bags stating the place and date where the bag was made. Since the early 1990's, this code has been represented by two letters followed by four numbers. For example, AA0954 means that the bag was made in France on May 1994.

Of course, besides above 7 clues the material, stitching, smell, pattern, stamp, hardware, and serial number, there are still many methods to differentiate the imitation and the real LV. I just addressed part of them and hope those would be helpful to you to identify the real LV once you have the opportunity to buy one.