 
Pornthep Amornwattana
When luxury ‘designer’ merchandise first began making an appearance in the Thai market several decades ago, the public had very little idea about brands.
Much of the information in circulation stemmed from rumors and hearsay, and some of the stories have persisted right up to the present day.
So in a bid to raise awareness among consumers, we’ll attempt to debunk some of the most persistent designer-label brand myths, while perhaps encountering a few other eye-opening facts along the way.
‘Prada bags are fireproof’
Prada bags began appearing in Thailand about 10 years ago. One story that has persisted over the years regarding the high prices they attract is that they’re fireproof.
Right from the start, I felt this suggestion was suspicious or even somewhat ludicrous. I mean, were the bags designed for firefighters or something? And why would anyone need a fireproof handbag?
While I’ve never tried it personally, a close friend has in fact set fire to several Prada bags and counterfeit handbags. She said the genuine bags are clearly not fireproof, noting that the copies burn much faster. This pretty much confirms what I had suspected.
A Louis Vuitton ‘sale’
Most people will be familiar with the Louis Vuitton (LV) brand. The LV logo has now become a fashion ‘institution’ around the world - a kind of symbol for luxury and elegance.
Another reason for the brand’s popularity is that its products are exclusive. A friend who visited Hong Kong recently said the LV shop there was holding a sale, but I know that this can’t be the case because it’s a company policy to not have sales.
Sometimes you’ll come across long lines of people outside LV’s stores in Paris’ Champs-Elysees, Hong Kong’s Canton Road, or Singapore’s Ngee Ann City. But these lines have nothing to do with sales – they’re a form of crowd control carried out by local members of staff. When there’s a surge of customers, it means it’s not always possible to accommodate everyone in the store at the same time! For this reason, entry to the stores has to be controlled in the interest of safety.
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Float on with an LV ‘Keep-all’
Another story to have done the rounds suggests that LV bags can float. While this story is almost as old as the Prada one we referred to earlier, there’s probably some truth in it since LV actually set out by looking after the needs of explorers in the mid-nineteenth century.
Having personally conducted a good deal of research into the situation, I found no real signs initially that LV had been making such claims, so I thought that maybe it was just a case of gossip mongers at work again!
In this case it turns out that LV’s ‘Keep-all’ series of traveling bags actually do float. A friend snapped one up and was able to make good use of it as a float, although I’m not at liberty to provide more specific details as to how this came about.
Wood is used in the production of Goyard bags, so again there might be some potential benefits when it comes to buoyancy. The bags are also hand-painted, featuring an interesting ‘Chevron’-style pattern, which has become quite popular these days. The fact that the decoration is carried out by hand, however, means that they cost the earth!
 Gimme some skin!
It seems that most people think that leather, particularly leather shoes, comes from cow hide. But when I lived in a Muslim country, I learned that storekeepers there first checked with their customers on such matters since some of the products they sold were made from pig skin.
Pig skin has grown in popularity in the world of leather production since it’s both cheaper and lighter than leather produced from the hide of a cow. In terms of durability, however, leather made from pig skin is as equally effective as cow leather.
Pig skin is generally used to make a shoe’s inner lining, and for that reason you’ll often see stores in countries like Malaysia and Singapore with warning notices reading, “Includes Pig Skin Lining”, or words to that effect. - Translated into English and republished with the kind permission of Mars magazine.
Illustrations: Tippayaporn Noppakun. |
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