Police: get out!
As a regular visitor to Thailand, I know the country reasonably well and have a number of permanent addresses. Don't get me wrong: just here and there nice addresses where I like to eat or just enjoy a good cup of coffee and read the Bangkok Post, for example.
An excellent tailor in Bangkok and also an address where I supplement my leisure wardrobe for a bargain price by European standards. This time I buy a pair of trousers and not just from some insignificant brand, nothing like that. Tommy Hilfiger, Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Lacoste and Burberry are the brands I walk around in the Netherlands on a weekday.
And very honest; I always buy those 'copies' or counterfeit brands from the same treasure bolt. In order to guarantee the identity of the owner, will not reveal too emphatically her working environment.
When she sees me she beams from afar, because I've been a good customer of hers for several years now, who goes out with a pair of trousers. She has her business well organized and has three different outlets within a larger complex, located close to each other.
Of course, the three shops carry a different assortment. My preference always goes to the trousers, which, as I have experienced, are of excellent quality.
This time I quickly made my choice again and the lady took the measurement and in an hour the trouser legs will be neatly finished to size.
On the run
At the moment that the purchase of the purchased trousers is almost completed, she screams, grabs her handbag and leaves with the staff in her wake, leaving the business, including this customer, alone behind. Look around me in bewilderment and see serious-looking and smiling salespeople from other outlets. Also notice two officers in a different uniform who just walk on. Just sit down and wait in peace for the ladies to return. After fifteen minutes, everyone returns to base, but the shock can be read on their faces. In retrospect it turned out to have been a false alarm and the men of Hermandad were apparently looking for something completely different.
Trademark law
Trademark law is flouted in many places throughout Thailand. Everywhere you stumble across counterfeit products of well-known brands for sale. Textiles, bags, watches, potency-stimulating pills and you name it, it can be found everywhere in the public eye. There is no secrecy about it at all.
You may wonder why it is not being dealt with more vigorously. Why does the owner run off in a hurry when she smells trouble, I wonder. All the stuff can easily be confiscated and the owner of the shop can be traced very easily. Could the companies of those well-known brands really do nothing about it or are they not completely spotless themselves? Often a low-wage manufacturer is quickly let down if it can be manufactured elsewhere for a slightly lower price. And then the revenge is of course sweet.
Why does the owner rush off when she smells trouble, I wonder.
Well, because the police would rather collect a monthly sum of 10-20.000 baht than put an end to the illegal trade. I hear that from many shops especially in the tourist areas. I don't know if that was the case here.
Not is what it seems and this theater event is also an example of how things are done. It's about trading and everything that comes with it. Abuse of cheap labor (forms of exploitation) or take the protection of branded goods, which of course involve big money in many cases. And they naturally want to protect this and prevent counterfeiting from being made and placed on the market. The difference in quality is often nil and in my experience you last just as long with such underpants. I am not a brand-bound person and wear what I like and what is affordable. Should more people do this because this would bring the absurd prices down sharply. On the other hand, it is also important not to have the goods produced and sold too cheaply, because then the group that is being exploited will be screwed again. It is important to coordinate well and to align the interests of a company and the workers, at least proportionally. Then there is a win-win situation. An important task for the government to supervise this, because people (also in company form) are very busy with their own profit and, in doing so, waltz over everything and everyone without too many scruples.
The big and well-known brands don't have such a problem with the copy market at all. On the contrary: they benefit because the brand remains highly regarded and remains in demand. As a result, people still have a lot of money left for the real product.
It is of course not only about bags and trousers, but also about digital products. Who has really paid full price for the Windows version on his computer or laptop, or for the virus scanner? Is Microsoft doing anything about that? No. They are happy that Windows is still the standard. If the copy market wasn't so big, Windows would have been outcompeted by a cheaper provider long ago.
Dear Joseph,
When you read my reaction you will already be back in the Netherlands and parade there with your “Burberry” trousers, haha. Because of all that counterfeiting, copies and so on, making those “world brands” even more famous, the noses of those licensees are going up even more, haha.
I know someone who has such a ladies' bag from Gucci or Guess, but she has to say that it is a “real one”, so she also wants to have her nose in the air. So she is clearly an acquaintance and not a friend. And I should know and I know the ins and outs of being “in fashion” for 40 years!
Peer
Often the products come from the same manufacturer.
I have worked with people who were convicted in the Netherlands for trading fake products.
And containers of products were returned because the original brand could not prove it was fake.
A good example was that a well-known whiskey brand was made in Israel.
And that it had a license of 100.000 but 250.000 bottles were produced.
But they were sold under the motto that it was fake.
Kind regards, Rob