Patsy Stoned

I don't get the fake culture darling..they are not REAL Tag/Hublot watches..they are FAKE. A real MB pen starts at $400. Same with handbags..they are not the real ones, they are not made from the same leather/skins/ same workmanship etc.

I understand that you pay stupid prices for high end designer stuff but I would rather buy a nice bag from Kenneth Cole, for example, than buy a copy Hermes that all my friends would know was fake because they know I can't afford 20,000 pounds on a handbag!!

It makes me laugh when I see the maids etc. walking around proudly carrying a Hermes bag..as if it was real and not a 500dhs knock off!!

A friend of mine was here on holiday and went to Karama. She proudly posted a picture on Facebook showing her lovely (fake) Gucci bag that she had bought for 400dhs....Why????

Millhouse

I have a couple of fake watches and pens. Most people assume they are real as they would 'expect' me to wear them. I also have a couple of real pens and watches. They really are all the same to me.

I don't get the whole 'must buy real' thing. If you like the design, just use it. I treat my fake and real watches with exactly the same care (i.e. complete absence). Last thing I would want to be doing is protecting my material things...

Patsy Stoned

I don't buy real if I can't afford them. But I wouldn't buy fake and pretend that they are real...I'm not saying you do that...you allow people to presume they are real

OriginalSunshine

Most of the SAHMs that I see here with LV bags I assume are carrying fakes. I work with a lot of their husbands who are on a similar or lower job grade than me, so I know what they approx earn. If it is real, then the husband is either shtupping the maid or someone else's maid (and unfortunately I've had to bite my tongue a fair few times when the wife complains her husband is always working late in the office, yet I've seen him leave at 4:30pm... ).

OriginalSunshine

Oh, and I too like Kenneth Cole bags.

Patsy Stoned

And..the thing is...you can tell that they are fake darling. The leather is the wrong colour or the embellishments are in the wrong place.
I have a lovely Kenneth Cole bag, I got it in the sale.

The number of SAHMs I hear saying that their husbands would NEVER cheat on them when they leave for the summer with the kiddies.....well I don't know who those groups of men, are who go to the bars with that funny white mark on their ring finger, belong to then

Equestra

^^^ totally agree.

I really couldn't give a monkey's re the label, when I shop for a handbag all I want is a decent hard wearing leather bag that accomodates what I need to carry about (phone, ipad, paper pad, pens, spare pair of shoes, etc ). For that reason I have in the past shopped at Karama in search of a decent leather bag, but to be honest the haggling does my head in!! I so can't be bothered with it all, and the goods are basically sub standard!

The genuine fake watches we've been sold into have brought hubs out in deathly wrist rashes.....so we don't bother any more. Would rather save up for a genuine article.

To mark our 20 yrs hard work in our relative professions we treated ourselves last year to (real!) Omega watches ..... nice, very nice. Not an every day or even every decade purchase!

Alexa

They paid way too much for them, they simply got ripped off. A good fake should not be more than at the most 350 Dirhams / riyals. AND it should be made of leather, not plastic. Unless the original is made of plastic, which sometimes is the case.

Meow

My issue with the fakes is that of the exploitation of those who make them. Known manufacturers are far from perfect, but at least they are accountable. A fake won't last, will have poorer workmanship, is connected with organised crime and is usually illegal.

If you can't afford, or don't want to pay the prices of high-end designer goods, then why not buy something mid-range that is good quality and well made without the price tag? There are loads of decent mid-range, quality brands in the market.

Are the same people who support buying fakes the same ones who complain that people move to the Gulf and pretend they are something they are not? Ironic, or just hypocritical?

flares

sneaky 9 holes...

Patsy Stoned

Or...aiming for a hole in one darling

Blue Cat

I hadn't been to Karama for years but went down before Christmas with some visitors. The quality of the bags has dramatically improved since the last time I was there. I was nearly tempted with a rather nice pink chloe bag but they wanted 600 dhs for it! no chance. I think the genuine ones are overpriced as well for what they are, at the end of they day ... a handbag, last one I bought was Lifestyle, less than 200 dhs and I love it.

Miss Anne Thrope

Me too, me too... Under our tree was the lavish bounty of his and his aprons. I suppose I did splash out in as much as they came from that expensive kitchen shop place (the one with all that Alessi stuff - that happens to be in the strip mall two minutes from my house) and may have cost as much as Dhs 150 total...

Well, I'll settle for miserable git award. I do like Xmas but I just can't see anything much worth spending the money on frankly...except books and music and that's mostly digital now anyway.

Miss Anne Thrope

When I was much younger and more easily persuadable about labels and things, my ex convinced me to buy a fake Tag Heuer watch from the Canal St market in NYC. It wasn't rock-bottom price by any means - maybe $50 (15 years ago or more) - and looked the business. Two days later I was in a very intense meeting, negotiating some fairly high stakes as the sole representative of my employer with senior management of a major supplier. Things had gotten a little heated and I was making an animated point complete with full arm gesticulations when I felt a sudden pulse on my wrist followed by a loud clattering noise. I looked down and realised in horror that the fascia of my fake watch had literally exploded away from the body and smashed onto the unforgiving formica table and down onto the equally unhelpful tiled floor. All the meeting participants sat there for a minute with jaws dropped about 10 feet!

The moment was mortifying enough to put me off ever considering buying a fake again. Mind you I did manage to use the incident to gain some advantage, firstly because it obviously broke the the tension and gave us all a chuckle (even if it was at my expense) but also because it underlined the fact that I was a ruthlessly cheap bastard! I got the result I wanted albeit with severely wounded pride....

Alexa

I once had a fake Cartier, bought in Chinatown in KL for 10 Ringit. Wore it every day for 10 years...ah wait, yes, I had the battery changed a few times.