BUSINESS
DHgate and the World of Designer Dupes
By: Madison Antino, Senior Writer Edited by: Elliana Gallagi
Once upon a time, owning a faux designer purse was one of fashion’s biggest taboos. You could only ever purchase one in secret, inside a shady looking van or hidden behind a storefront on Canal Street. In one infamous episode of Sex and the City, Samantha and Carrie are lured all the way into the Valley to be offered fake Fendi Baguettes in all shapes and patterns out of a trunk, and even the notorious Carrie Bradshaw found a fake bag just too immoral. But now, a fake version of almost any designer product is just a click away, with sites like DHgate blowing up the world of counterfeit products across social media.
Today, many videos on social media feeds consist of hauls that display dozens of cardboard boxes filled with dupes of the newest Chanel Classic Flap, Miu Miu tank tops, and Loewe jeans. But how did we get here, when not too long ago the biggest crime against fashion was owning something fake? High-quality dupes from sellers like DHgate (ironically) don’t come cheap, and even though they omit logos from their website, are these practices truly legal? And for consumers, are these products worth flaunting?
In 2019, a Chanel Classic Flap was $5,800. In 2024, it costs $10,200 – almost a 50% increase in five years. But on a site like DHgate, the bag comes around just under $400, as long as you’re able to sleep peacefully at night knowing it is in fact a fake. Sure, it might look strikingly similar to the ten thousand dollar bag, because who has the funds to spend on that anyways? And the description says it's made out of genuine leather, why would you even buy the Chanel version in the first place?
Even though the “dupe” creators of TikTok post hundreds of videos daily flaunting hauls of box after box filled with realistic looking fakes, the products of the retailers who sell these fakes aren’t what they’re made out to be. DHgate has an average 1.7 star rating from over 30,000 reviews, several of which call the products “cheap rubbish” and the company “A BUNCH OF DISHONEST CRIMINALS.”
The use of the word “dupe” as a replacement for counterfeit or fake is one of the biggest factors that helped deceptive retailers come so easily into the mainstream. By referring to a fake version of Hermes Oran sandals as “dupes,” it gives off the impression that the customer is buying from a company like Steve Madden, who makes versions of trendy, designer shoes at attainable prices that are just slightly different from the original. But that’s not even close to what is produced and sold on DHgate; for the company to avoid prosecution, the logos that appear on the products in the website’s photos aren’t even included on the purchased item.
It also seems as if the people that are contributing to the excessive hauls and flaunting of “designer bags” don’t realize that counterfeit products are still very much illegal. They refer to DHgate’s website with names like “The Fence” and “The Little Yellow App” so TikTok doesn’t take down the videos. But while they believe that their “dupe” is indistinguishable from the original product, customs and specialists in Luxury Authentication can easily distinguish what’s real and what’s not. In just the month of May, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in Rochester seized what was thought to be over $1.6 million of designer products, but were immediately confiscated at the sight of being fake. The Customs and Border Patrol website states, “CBP has the authority to detain, seize, forfeit, and ultimately destroy imported merchandise if it bears an infringing trademark or copyright that has been registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office or the United States Copyright Office.”
There has been continuous action against counterfeit goods, but with the normalization of purchasing those products across social media, it will only continue to get worse. Luxury authentication service Entrupy reported around $2.8 billion worth of counterfeit goods are confiscated yearly, and that Goyard is the brand most duped (,which is probably why it seems that everyone somehow has a St. Louis tote to bring to class). And while consumers of DHgate continue to convince their followers that fakes and the products they copy are made in the same factories, WWD reported that 36.2% of counterfeits continued dangerous levels of toxins like cadmium.
Counterfeit good production exploits child labor, produces toxic material that is sent to landfills, and has even been tied to organized crime, says WWD. If designer prices continue to rise to exorbitant prices, consumers will continue to choose the cheap alternative in order to follow the hottest trends.