Just wondering is anyone knows of an area in Paris that the vendors sell knock-off designers purses and such. I heard there was an area at one the stations along the Champs Elyesse? Thanks

If by knock-off you mean fakes, it's highly illegal in France.
If caught with counterfeight goods (and the customs are strict) you will :
- have the item conficated,
- have to pay a serious fine (several tousand euros)
- for more than 3 items, it comes under criminal offense classification.

there are a no. of flea-markets, I think - which sell cut=price gear. Is that what you mean? also shops selling 2nds of designer clothes.

Oh, for a second there I thought this post was about forgetting consumerism and living in the Parisian moment!
Smiling, nyse

I don't know about Paris, but the authorities have really started cracking down on vendors who sell knock-off designer bags in NYC and Philly.

In the past, you could always by fake Gucci/Burburry/LV bags on 6th Ave/49th St. right by FOX NEWS. I haven't seen a vendor in this area for over a year.

Or else.

I don't get the 'knock off' fashion thing. It seems like a sad quirk to me - you aren't paying for the quality of the original, so it can only mean you are buying to 'impress' others into thinking you did. But I'm not much into 'brands' so maybe that's why I don't get it.

IMO save your money buy the real thing if you have to have a statement piece and make sure that it's timeless in style! Trust me must know a knock off as well. I truly have never figured out why anyone would want anything fake. Nonetheless, pay for it. I hope you woulnd't want to receive a CZ as a wedding ring. Though, I guess on the other hand I could have saved a lot of money.lol Sorry I can't help you I really haven't seen any fake bags only the sixteen year old American girls carring them!

IMO save your money buy the real thing if you have to have a statement piece and make sure that it's timeless in style! Trust me most know a knock off as well. I truly have never figured out why anyone would want anything fake. Nonetheless, pay for it. I hope you woulnd't want to receive a CZ as a wedding ring. Though, I guess on the other hand I could have saved a lot of money.lol Sorry I can't help you I really haven't seen any fake bags only the sixteen year old American girls carring them!

We just returned from Paris and I saw knock-offs being sold everywhere on the streets. It appeared that they (usually Africans) weren't harrassed by the police as much as they are in Italy. As far as actual stores, I didn't really see any, but I wasn't really looking.

Those cheap fake bags are the epitome of tack. It is kind of sad that someone would feel the need to sport something like that. Angela, did you see actual copies sold on the street, as those brown plastic bags with LV all over them? Or were they bags that looked kind of like the designer originals but on second look were imprinted with another design or a mispelling? It seems odd that an actual facsimile bag would be sold openly on the street in Paris. And certainly not in a store!

A pox on those who so little value craftsmanship and quality and have no regard for the artisans who struggle to keep their art!

Fake fake fake phonies.

Can't really say if they were good or bad knock-offs since I don't really ever look at the real things so I wouldn't be able to make a comparison. That's not to say that I don't like luxury items, just not those which sport a designer's initials all over them.

Maybe I could buy a fake bag and put it in my fake suitcase on my fake tour and take it to my fake house. There, I could put it in my fake antique dresser. I'm not fakin!

I could tell you some spots, but then I'd be an accessory to a crime...

My wife bought a beautiful fake Louis Vuitton purse that she got three years ago in Venice. She still uses it everyday and it still holds up. She gets constant compliments everywhere she goes. She proudly admits to the flatterers that it's a fake. Great conversation starter. Plus I feel good that I helped some poor starving Ethiopian guy rather than some rich fat designer.

What a simplistic comment! You really think the "starving" "Ethiopian" guy is making lots of money on your wife's purse?

How nice that you're so proud of yourself ripping a comnpany off. You're a musician? I'll just download your songs and too bad about your royalties. You're a writer? I'll "liberate" your book from the big bad bookstore (or take whole passages of yours and put it in my book). You paint? Let me just lift part of that and drop it into my original masterpiece.

Artistic work should accrue to the benefit of the designer, in this case one who employs thousands of people who do highly skilled artisanal work with their hands. The fact that you and your friends don't know the difference between that, and crappy plastic knockoffs made by slave labor in a sweatshop shows your ignorance.

OK, Zeus. Let's say that a designer bag maker is a public company that sells stock. Let's say you own many shares of stock in this designer bag company as a part of your RETIREMENT portfolio. How would you feel if your stock was devalued and you lost money because of a glut of fake designer bags on the market?

Would you still say that you were helping a poor African instead of a fat, rich American invester?

Just wondering.

That "poor African" is a criminal.