Fake Britannia [RANT]
Let me start of by saying, this was an unintended rant, but it became one, so here it is:
I doubt very many people know why I actually started the old BBC website. Well, I'm going to tell you why! Back in 2004/05 BBC was announced and everything looked promising. It was something I was interested in because the design had something about them.
Yes, it's true I probably wouldn't have come across it had it not been Pharrell Williams' brand, but I can honestly say his involvement was purely to introduce me back into something I had been interested in years before but couldn't afford.
Anyway, I started the website to give people a bit of help when trying to locate authentic BBC items. I'd seen fake stuff up front and it just made me laugh. The quality was extremely poor and made for maximum profit.
I wanted to, at the very least, help just one person find an authentic item with my help. More brands were introduced (my intentions) and the forum became far bigger than I intended and so after 16months, Be Unequaled was born.
Now I feel the difference between myself, as well as what I see as a minority of other people, and others is that I knew I couldn't afford BAPE and so I left it at that. People I consider to be on my side of the argument may have aspired to own a piece and so worked to buy an authentic piece, but there seems to be a market that continues to grow which sells fake items. These items are often bought by people who aspire to belong to a culture or achieve a look similar to the popular crowd/celebrities for minimum outlay and effort.
Most of these 'people' are often kids, and they often don't carry the kind of money that BAPE buyers need to have. These kids need to be taught the importance of money. Any adults need to get their life in check and put a few more important things before clothing. It's now so much easier to find fake pieces than it is to find anything authentic if you don't know where or what you're looking for.
This brings me on to an article I found on the BBC News website (how this rant started) about how Britain's are increasingly finding it acceptable to buy and wear fake goods.
If a piece of clothing or an accessory makes you feel THAT good about yourself, you seriously need help. Yes, I do have prized possessions and there are items I looked long and hard for, but I have passed on so many purely because I will not buy into the hype and I will not let a single item define who I am. I will also not put life's essentials ahead of a piece of clothing. I have never been in debt and I don't intend to start over a red camouflage hoody!
I see a whole load of people on my way to work, even within my own family and circle of friends, that find it acceptable to buy fake items and act like they're real. If you're happy to buy fake, why aren't you happy to say that it is indeed fake? If that is what you do, I have no problem at all with you. It's not like I challenge these people, but the swagger they have when they walk with a fake piece is quit frankly amazing!
I personally don't buy the 'fakes support terrorism' line myself, although it may be true on a small (or maybe even a large) scale.
There are only two aspects I'm interested in. The first might be slightly selfish on my part, but is to give the brands that produced these items real support. I find that fakes often give brands a false representation of what works and what doesn't.
BAPE is a prime example of this. Some of the stuff they've produced recently has been unimaginative, but when fakers jump on to an item and it sells, they must think they've hit on a good idea because not only have their stores sold out, but fakers are making money out of a copied idea. This just leads to more mediocrity. Great!
My second reason is that some lazy fuck is making money by copying other peoples ideas. If I made unlicensed copies of Harry Potter (highly topical today!) there would be an outrage and I could well be staring a date with a judge in the face! Yet it just seems so acceptable for people to buy and support fake clothing and it annoys me.
Maybe the brands need to do more to combat fakes. I know for a fact that eBay allows brands to register and remove any item from their listings if they think it's fake. I've told the people at BBC this TWICE and they have done nothing. I asked for permission to register as them over a year ago and heard nothing. A few brands obviously don't see it as a real threat to their business.
Within the confines of Be Unequaled, the members do seem to make owning a fake a bit of a stigma. You do get clowned on and it probably makes a difference by education a person here or there, but is it enough?
As long as little chavs are running around with fake Burberry on, NO.
[/RANT]
