Longchamp Le Pliage? Na-ah.

These past couple o'years, it seems that the Philippines has become a Longchamp country.  The brand has gained huge popularity that when someone goes abroad, s/he is made to bring back a Longchamp for herself if she's a she... for the wife or for the mother if he's a he.

Longchamp is a good brand because it has made its way to become a symbol of class and its designs stay trendy all the time.  It is so good that it's become a target of the masters of counterfeiting, especially in the Philippines.  I'll have my fingers cut if FAKE long champ bags here do not outnumber the genuine ones, I am pretty certain they do. The rampant existence of such replicas is the reason why my friends and I are having second thoughts about buying, especially the Le Pliage line.

Nonetheless, if you're planning to get one, here are some tips on how to spot a fake Le Pliage.  I got this from

"http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Spot-Fake-Longchamp-quot-Les-Pliages-quot_W0QQugidZ10000000006532305."

General

The fake is on the left, the real deal on the right. Right away, notice the left bag looks too shiny and the handles don't look right: too short for long handles, and too long for short-handle variant.

Leather
There is contrast stitching on the leather parts of the bag, which is a different color than the leather itself on the visible side (and same color as the leather on the back of the flap). FAKE Pliages have plastic tubes in the handles, because the leather is soft and not very durable. REAL Pliages have no plastic tubes and are made from durable, high-quality leather.

The fake leather looks like a fish-scale pattern, with clean lines of even depth.Sometimes it looks smooth or bumpy. On an authentic bag, it is almost a diamond pattern, and grain is not embossed as deeply as the logo.  See the leather flaps:

FAKE!

AUTHENTIC

LOGO: (shown above) There is a jockey on a horse impressed down into the leather, and a straight line underneath. On the fake one, the logo is not centered above the snap, the lines of the impression are not as clean as on the real, and the horse is lacking details like hooves.

Fabric and Lining
Bags should have crisp seams, and perhaps creases from the original folding. Your bag should fold nicely and the two parts of the snap meet easily. The fabric on fakes is too shiny and texture is much smoother compared with real Pliages. If a bag looks too shiny in a photo, you may want to double-check its other features.

Inside, the plastic coating that lines the bag feels like plastic but not rubbery. For pastel bags (light blue, pink, so on), lining should be WHITE, not same color as outside. The tan fake above is lined in tan, when it should be white. Dark colors are lined with black or brown.

Zipper Pull

Longchamp Pliages have round logo zipper pulls, which can be gold or pewter depending on what shape the bag is. The real one is extremely detailed, and on the fake, the bodies of the jockey and the horse blend together. Longchamp currently use YKK zippers, and you can see the letters on the zipper below.

FAKE!

AUTHENTIC

Backside of Flap

Fake bag leather looks hairy and the edges jagged. Real one is also raw but is smooth and clean. On the snap itself, the fake has the words "guang tong" and real says, "ORIGINAL."

FAKE!

AUTHENTIC

Tag
Look at the serial number on the white tag inside the bag and make sure it matches the serial number on the plastic bag that covers all new Longchamp bags. In addition, the tag should read "AA" (Made in France), "AE" (Made in China) or "AB" (Made in Tunisia).

If you come to think of it, it's kinda easy to spot fake Longchamp bags, you just have to know what to look for. :) So if you're bent on spending your 6,000 - 7,000 bucks on a Le Pliage, just better be careful.  Personally, I'm not too keen on getting that line.  It would just annoy me to see anyone carrying the same bag, and not everybody could tell which one is a genuine and which one is a counterfeit.

If I were to buy a Longchamp, the Victoire line is what I would pick. This one costs between $190-200, or roughly around 9,000 bucks.

 

Le Pliage? Na-ah. Victoire? GO! :)