Thursday, May 8, 2008

Fake Spade


Doodle loves to carry a purse when we go shopping. Since her "go to" purse is black velvet, I decided to get her a colorful bag for her birthday. In running errands at lunch last week, I spotted the perfect bag for a 10-year old girl hanging from a street vendor's display. I asked to see it (it was hanging too high for me to reach it), bartered a bit as I noticed a few spots of dirt on the bag (the vendor removed them with Windex), and then agreed to buy it. The vendor said that he would "fix it up" for me, and turned toward his truck as I dug for the correct money in my wallet. He then presented the bag to me, and I went on my way. When I got back to the office and showed my purchase to a colleague, I noticed right away that he had added a "Kate Spade" label to the bag. My daughter is now the proud owner of a knockoff, and she adores it even though she isn't fashion conscious and doesn't know Kate Spade from Nine West. Doodle does love a bargain, though, so she was thrilled to hear that I got the bag for less than the price listed.
My colleague told me that she bought a knockoff Coach Signature Stripe bag from the same guy; the bag wasn't on display and had to be retrieved from the truck. I wonder what other brand knockoffs he carries.