I am astounded that people pay thousands for a bag!! I would rather have a knock-off because I can buy it without feeling I spent a lot. I recently bought a wallet and a bag in NYC and it was beautiful. I can buy a lot more for 20-40 dollars than one for a thousand.

Captain, I mean you no disrespect but I do have to ask. Maybe I'm confused but when you say "Fakes and knock-offs are for those that too poor to afford the real status symbols of their vanity."  By vanity you mean what ?  There are many people like myself who can afford to pay for quality, but refuse to pay for 'status symbols. '  Many more buy knock offs because they refuse to pay the crazy prices. Add up the per centages of people who got the question wrong,  with  those  that  didn't know the answer. You will notice that the majority can't tell the difference anyways. It costs  so little to produce real leather bags.  I'm serious even designer brand jeans are mass produced overseas. The cost of shipping them here is more than the production cost.  The jeans have no magic fabric, its just a higher  thread count cotten.  It is the greedy designers that  are their own worst enemies. If they didn't charge rediculous amts of money for their jeans there would be no demand for knock offs. Same with purses. Or just about anything else. People pay for the brand.  In fact so many are  charged up to the max on their charge cards, now more than ever. Several yrs back I made a decision, no more charging.  If I don't have the cash, I can't afford it.  Because by the time  your done paying all the interest on minimum payments,  its twice as much. But you are absolutley right when you say  "quality goods at a reasonable price" 

I tend to think that as soon as a 'knock off' starts making the knock-offs, it cheapens the real thing.

Plus....... if you are carrying around a 1000.00 purse, someone will mug you....they know you have money!!!!

You get what you pay for. But, there is a breaking point. When you spend well above your limit, or simply spend outrageously because you can, then you are showing off. Quality doesn't have to cost 10's of thousands of dollars just because of a name. Sure, crap that falls apart quickly isn't the answer, but looking for quality at logical prices is a whole lot smarter and wiser than spending 6,000$ for a purse just because it has a name attached to it that advertises 'money' to those in the know.

 

On the fakers, there is also a level of honor that should be in business. Fraud is fraud, stealing someones name to sell your crap is wrong. The fact that a fool will spend through the nose for that knockoff simply to have something with that name on it makes the buyer just as foolish and downright stupid as the seller who abuses that lust for expensive stuff.

Well stated! I go out of my way to avoid advertising for a product or company on my apparel.  It makes me crazed when I can't find a tee shirt for my children without a name written across the back or front. ABSURD! 

If I wore or carried an item with a designer's name all over it..I would expect to be paid for advertising.

I got them all but, the diamond. Without magnification it is impossible to tell a natural diamond from an manufactured one. True you can tell actual diamond material, natural or manufactured from those made from other materials