Handbags, and their extended family of accessories, have been called the single most important fashion item by many a designer, industry expert, and consumer alike. There’s no doubt about it; the business is highly lucrative, and this has led to some incredibly inspired designs over the years… as well as a few losers. Within this competitive and intense atmosphere of designs coming and going… trends ebbing and flowing… comes the knock-offs, the fakes, the rip-offs, and the just plain ugly versions of the real thing. It can cause some worry for the designers who market the top-dollar goods, since it cuts deeply into their market share, but who’s to say that regular people with non-designer budgets shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy high fashion at a low price? For this, the designer-inspired replicas and original designs available on the search listings of toptenwholesale.com come in pretty handy, but maybe you’d like to know a little more about where the stuff comes from? Let’s take a quick walk around the world, as we check out some of the top countries producing bags these days. Naturally, I’m going to steer away from haute couture, since the majority of wholesalers are looking for discounted items at rock-bottom prices.

Check out my sneak-peek into the world of China’s night markets!

To be fair, there are a lot of places making fake goods that didn’t make this list. Therefore, I invite you to comment and share your findings with the rest of us, in order to help increase awareness – especially amongst the first-time and newbie wholesalers! So, without further ado, let’s swing by my neck of the woods – Asia – to begin our world tour…

• China / Taiwan
• Not a real surprise there, since these two have been cranking out the fake goods for quite some time now, and continue to be the world’s leaders in making knock-offs of pretty much anything you can imagine. I live in Hangzhou, and I see them everywhere. Let me be more specific: I SEE THEM EVERYWHERE. Fake bags are literally falling off the backs of bicycles and electric scooters, as they dodge and weave their way past thronging crowds of shoppers who may very well be waiting for the sellers to show up with these goods. The most interesting aspect of this selling environment is the fact that most of the dealers will simply wait until the big-name department stores shut down for the day, and set up their little blankets with portable lighting rigs right in front of the stores that carry the real goods! Ooh! Ouch! Wince! I can practically hear the collective teeth of the designers grinding… but it happens almost every day here, and there’s a lot more cities in China besides the one I happen to be in.

• Malaysia
• Unlike the frenzy of the Chinese night markets, the markets in Malaysia are open 24/7 for you convenience! It’s usually best to stroll through the shops in the morning, when things tend to be a little more subdued, and the goods are fresh from their drop points. Haggling and bargaining is the key here, although the indoor air-conditioned shops will usually keep their goods at a fixed price, to offset the cost of being in a nicer facility than outside in the sweltering heat.

• Singapore
• There seems to be a raging debate over whether high-grade fakes are produced by these manufacturers, but the truth is that there are a massive amount of them being shipped out of Singapore to parts unknown in Vietnam and Malaysia. It looks like CHANEL is the flavor of the week every week in this part of the world, and there are a lot of nicely crafted knockoffs making those A-grade producers in Korea a bit jealous.

• Thailand
• If you’re thinking of Patpong in Bangkok, then you’ve obviously done your homework! The famous night market in Patpong is home to many of the goodies shipped in from a few of our previous winners on the fakes list, but there are plenty of manufacturers putting their own touch on bags within the country as well. The fakes are a riskier prooposition, though; similar to the counterfeight goods produced in mexico, these bags tend to weather and fade in a big hurry, exposing their flaws in a matter of days – or hours- much to the buyer’s chagrin!

• India / Saudi Arabia
• You’ve come to another one of the heavy-hitters in the fake goods category, and this time you’ll notice that the emphasis is on quality. Of course you’ll find some cheapies that fall apart if you look at them too long… but there are a surprising number of manufacturers and sellers who advertise their wares as being “identical to the real thing in every detail, right down to the serial numbers embossed on each item.” There are money-back guarantees if you’re not delighted with your fakes, and there’s real-time custoemr service from the sellers, too. Some of the actual designers could learn a thing or two from the counterfeiters about customer service, it seems.

• Turkey
• Kiyici Genuine Fake Bags. Need I say more? In a move that reminds us of the Indian and Saudi sellers from the paragraph above, we seem to be noticing a new wave of fakers who stand by their products with pride! Even the NY Times covered this phenomenon, and it might come as a surprise that you won’t necessarily save money buying these goods.

• Indonesia
• Bali is renowned for being a high-grade tourist destination, and the fake goods are certainly making themselves a part of the local scene as well. In a short time, visitors can find themselves face-to-face with some beauties like MIU MIU knock-offs, and the usual stable of brands like LV and GUCCI, to name a few. Quality ranges from sky-high to bottom of the barrel, so this is considered a riskier place to locate the goods by many.

• Russia / Ukraine
• Ah, Russia… with leadership that has been famously touted as being a large scale crime group, it’s no surprise that there are some close ties with their equally-famous neighbors to the south in China. Lots of goods, and I do mean lots are being shuttled back and forth  between Russia and the PRC. Every kind of bag is in production, and there’s such a Byzantine mazelike network of sellers, distributors, and dealers… that nobody seems to really know where the goods come from. I’ve talked to a few of them, and they simply laugh and shrug emphatically when asked.

• Germany / Italy
• What? You didn’t know that some of the biggest outlets for fakes are coming straight out of the EU? To be fair, there’s a good number of them even coming out of the USA – and I suspect this number will increase over the coming months and years – and access to quality materials and machinery make the difference here. On top of that, branding the goods as “made in Italy” is easier to accept when the stuff really is made there! Capitalizing on the fame and reputation of the world’s most famous fashion countries has its benefits, after all.

Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, etc… these are also on the list, as well as a dozen more. I think you’ve got the picture, though. Be aware of what goes on, keep your wits keen, and remember that due diligence is the only real measure of control you’ve got available at all times as you continue to Find it. Source it. Profit!