How do you make a good designer knock-off? Enlist some of the workers from the genuine fashion house! Just don’t expect your efforts won’t catch up with you!
We all know Hermes doesn’t take counterfeiting lightly. Just a month after it saw 34 online fraudsters shut down, it’s helped French police bust another counterfeiting ring. The twist is that Hermes employees were working for the crims.
This was no small time operation either. Estimates suggest that just one branch of the ring raked in around 18 million euros, or roughly $22 million, in profits. It took 12 months to bring the shysters to justice.
It’s unclear exactly how the Hermes employees were involved, but the counterfeit workshops were filled with Hermes’ superior leather skins. Around a dozen arrests were made, and two Hermes employees have been shown the door. That might be just the tip of the iceberg though, as insiders suggest more staffers may be sacked during further investigations.
We’ve seen a lot of high profile court cases involving counterfeiting lately. It seems fashion houses are becoming increasingly protective of their creative works, and will no longer tolerate their reproduction. But we’ve never seen employees turning on their employer like this. You know what they say about biting the hand that feeds you! I can’t imagine these workers ever finding another job in the fashion industry, can you?
