cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/32835964
[…]
In one [Tiktok] video that has nearly 10 million views, a creator claims to be able to sell yoga pants from the same manufacturer that supplies Lululemon for $5-$6, instead of the $100 they sell for in the United States.
“The material and the craftsmanship are basically the same because they come from the same production line,” she says, standing in front of what appears to be a factory.
In another, a man standing on a factory floor claims to have access to manufacturers that produce Louis Vuitton bags, which he says can be sold directly to customers for $50.
But both companies deny their products are finished in China, and experts told The Independent the videos are likely an effort by counterfeit or “dupe” manufacturers to take advantage of the chaos over the tariffs to boost their sales.
“They’re trying to conflate the fake manufacturers in China with the real manufacturers,” said Conrad Quilty-Harper, author of Dark Luxury, a newsletter about the luxury goods industry.
“They’re very clever with their social media, and they’re very effective at driving demand in the West,” he added.
[…]
Louis Vuitton has said repeatedly that it does not manufacture products in China.
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TikTok users have reported seeing the videos appear in their feeds in recent days as the trade war between the U.S. and China continues to heat up.
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The counterfeit market in China is the largest in the world. U.S. Customs seized counterfeit items worth some $1.8 billion in recommended retail price in 2023.
Quilty-Harper said the counterfeit industry in China has been a concern for Western companies for years. And the enforcement of trademark and intellectual property rights internally has tended to depend on the geopolitical climate.
“In the past, the Chinese authorities have been stricter on it, and sometimes they’ve been looser on it, and often that’s to do with the relationship with the US and previous presidents,” he said.
“This is part of a huge geopolitical battle between America and China over intellectual property. And it’s just fascinating to see this sort of propaganda fight happening on these very high-traffic TikTok videos,” he added.
Similarly, if you want AirPods but you don’t want to pay AirPods pricing: https://jenny.airreps.info/
The factories in China have all of the specs and info because they make the actual AirPods, so they sell tons of knockoff versions that are identical.
Americans are a captive audience for US companies to ripoff constantly and for our entire lives. We’re like livestock. Once you start to see how massively overpriced everything has been for years due to greedy western middlemen, it changes your perspective on what to buy and what you’re willing to pay.
I want to build a small website that provides alternative sources for anything people can think of. Maybe categorized into buckets. Tech, clothing, home goods, etc.
Your idea for an alternatives to website sounds like a great idea.
Looks both promising and sketchy at the same time. Have you personally tried these? How’s the ANC?
I would also be very interested in any experiences with this shop/product
I have a friend that has been buying them for years after his actual AirPods died. They get recognized as AirPods on iOS and macOS, and the ANC is the exact same. He’s bought multiple pairs and says they function, look, and feel exactly the same.
those appear to be physical clones, not electronic equivalent clones. How is this specific company any different than the dozens of other earbud clones out there?
It’s not any different. There are tons that copy AirPods because they have all the specs and materials. This is merely one of them. The problem is that people are fixated on brands and consumerism nonsense.
How do you know that they are identical? Do you have a source for that other than „the seller said so“?
Quoting myself from another reply:
I have a friend that has been buying them for years after his actual AirPods died. They get recognized as AirPods on iOS and macOS, and the ANC is the exact same. He’s bought multiple pairs and says they function, look, and feel exactly the same.
Adding on, I’ve had other friends purchase these or different ones from another factory in the same area of China, and they behaved, felt, and functioned identical.
Only thing I care about is the quality.
I could not possibly care less about a brand name other than (in some situations) it being an indicator of quality. Which also tends to drop over time.
I’d absolutely buy direct from China. Wouldn’t be the first time for me. The only question is whether these are quality products or not.
Already seen some of those myself. But did people actually think that those expensive brands didn’t just buy from the same factories every other clothing company buys from?
Afaik french haute couture shit (like Vuitton) really don’t. They’d rather play with all the grey areas of the law of various European countries to buy their leather from some factories in Italy where work safety standards are seen as more of guidelines than rules and they illegally employ immigrants to pay them the shittiest salary possible. Then get that shit to France and pay someone a pittance to make the bag even though it’s very tedious and precise work, so you can say it was made in France with European leather.
That all still sounds better than the Foxconn Chinese slave camps that had the suicide nets around the perimeter of all their buildings.
Pretty sad state of affairs when our choices are human rights violation 1 or human rights violation 2.
Basic dignity will always be at odds with profit motive. We need eternal vigilance and working class solidarity to keep capitalism in check
This is the way.
I think there used to be a difference but nowadays they just slap an expensive label on white label goods
I was never buying these pointlessly expensive name brands to begin with.
Isn’t there a saying that goes: “Every man is their own best doctor” or something like that? I guess the American experiment has now expanded to “Every man are their own best company”.
I’d hate to be born in the USA…How to make cheap products in China:
- Use the same production line (same tooling)
- Use less skilled, cheaper workers, producing lower quality
- Replace materials with lower quality ones
- Skip materials where they aren’t seen
- Reduce requirements for the quality check
Brands, and the fear of losing the investment put into establishing one, is the only thing keeping people in check. When brands stop caring about quality, they lower it. When manufacturers want to differentiate themselves from scammers, they establish a brand 🤷
As someone who would love more production in America, I largely agree but might add a caveat to this. China makes a bunch of cheap crap, and at the same time that is exactly what our society demands. “I want something that does X at the cheapest possible price” is what the average US citizen wants. Roughly 77% live paycheck to paycheck, so them wanting the cheapest price makes sense. They can’t afford quality and China is happy to lower the quality for them.
On the flip side China makes iPhones. People who buy those phones demand top quality, and China delivers there too. China is capable of quality, but most people don’t actually want quality. This sounds counter intuitive to me at first, but at the same time, we elected Trump twice so I think I’m just out of touch with a large group of our country.
If you want the cheapest possible option, which is what the majority demand, China will do that. American made goods are expensive and that isn’t what the majority want or can afford. This is not me saying, “nobody wants quality.” I want quality. I want American made. I will pay the higher price. I just also understand that most people in America don’t actually want that.
They might want American made, they just can’t afford it.
