hey guys,

we are curretly in Hong Kong (kowloon) and had really looked forward to finding some great shopping... we are now quite a bit bummed.. maybe someone can help?

we spent the last day and a half around the golden mile (Nathan road), the ladies market and temple street market. we hoped we can get some "better looking" fakes.. like polo shirts etc that dont scream "fake". we had been told that hong kong is a great place to go.
i know mainland china (schenzen) is better priced, but we doubt we will bother with the hassle of visa application.
anyone know where we can look around? we are so dissapointed.

thanx!

Hi, not sure if you're aware of this, but fake brand products are clear violation of intellectual property. I don't know about mainland, but things cleaned up a lot in HK. You shouldn't find them and shouldn't buy them even if you do. Try outlet malls if you're from N.America where they sell legit products.

go to the info office at the star ferry on the kowloon side and they have a pamphlet on outlet shopping...

12 peddler street is (was???) a whole building of good buys on the HK side..

stanley market is also a good place for shopping

It is unfortunate that someone told you that you could find a "lot" of fake clothing in Hong Kong, and kind of more unfortunate, IMO, that you have spent 1.5 days in Nathan Road looking for it and not out enjoying the fabulous cool weather we are having here. I agree that Stanley Market might be a place to try, you might find some fake polos, and some North Face jackets which may or may not be real. I am not sure I would call a polo shirt "designer clothing", what is it that you are looking for? Ralph Lauren polo shirts? You might be able to find genuine seconds at the outlet malls, see rhkkmk's recco above on where to find info on outlets, or try walking down Johnston Road on the Hong Kong Island side from about Landale Street until it intersects with Hennessy Road, there are lots of "bin" type stores that sell discount merchandise, you can sometimes find DKNY and other brands there. Also try the area around the Sogo Department store in Causeway Bay for the same types of stores.

The Pedder Building mentioned above, which is at 12 Pedder Street in Central (Central MTR stop) does not have much in the way of fake polos, they have some fake cashmere and some Chanel suits of dubious quality. They do have some nice shoe shops and the wonderful Blanc de Chine (not cheap) and the fun and kitschy Shanghai Tang.

If you think that the quality is poor in Hong Kong, then do NOT bother to go to Shenzhen where the quality is worse, IMO (can't speak for designer fakes as I don't shop for them, but in general the quality of merchandise is very poor).

If it doesn't bother you that "designer" fakes violate all kinds of intellectual property laws, then at least know that many of these factories are connected with atrocious violations of labor laws and organized crime (I study the industry as part of my profession.)

As others have indicated, consider going to outlet malls where the goods are offical but discounted, or the legit brands that do "acceptable" knock-off versions (e.g. ABS for dresses) and their lawyers work it out.

And yes, designer fakes may give you the look, but far from the quality. Hong Kong has figured out that it can do better.