Is that a fake Belstaff Trialmaster?

[Marc mndt]

With a fashion brand. the brand itself seems to be what pulls in the money - most consumers, I think, don't really care where something is made.

I'm not sure I agree on this. I used to work as a sales associate for Ralph Lauren, which is a fashion brand imo. RL had clothing produced in England, Italy, USA, China and low wage countries like Pakistan, India and others.

Most of RL's customers were very educated and knew exactly what they were buying and where and by whom it was produced. If they bought a cashmere sweater which was made in Italy, they knew it was produced by Loro Piana. If they bought a Polo suit made in Italy they knew it was produced by Corneliani. Purple label shoes were made by Edward Green and most customers knew.

I had customers who were ready to buy some jacket but changed their mind when they saw it was made in China. Most sensitive to country of origin were the Chinese. Chinese did not want to buy anything made in China.

I guess this awareness is stronger amongst buyers of high end fashion.

 

[Edward]

I'm not sure I agree on this. I used to work as a sales associate for Ralph Lauren, which is a fashion brand imo. RL had clothing produced in England, Italy, USA, China and low wage countries like Pakistan, India and others.

Most of RL's customers were very educated and knew exactly what they were buying and where and by whom it was produced. If they bought a cashmere sweater which was made in Italy, they knew it was produced by Loro Piana. If they bought a Polo suit made in Italy they knew it was produced by Corneliani. Purple label shoes were made by Edward Green and most customers knew.

I had customers who were ready to buy some jacket but changed their mind when they saw it was made in China. Most sensitive to country of origin were the Chinese. Chinese did not want to buy anything made in China.

I guess this awareness is stronger amongst buyers of high end fashion.

Higher end stuff it may well make a difference, to be fair. The Chinese are a canny lot - you'll not as a rule catch them spending big money abroad on things that they can buy much more cheaply at home. I suspect they're also well aware of the mark-up a designer name has against even a very fair local wage.

 

[Marc mndt]

you'll not as a rule catch them spending big money abroad on things that they can buy much more cheaply at home. I suspect they're also well aware of the mark-up a designer name has against even a very fair local wage.

I actually asked a couple of them why they're not interested in 'made in china' clothing. They see the 'made in China' label as a signifier for inferior quality.

 

[Edward]

I actually asked a couple of them why they're not interested in 'made in china' clothing. They see the 'made in China' label as a signifier for inferior quality.

Familiarity breeds contempt, I guess!

 

[robrinay]

Slightly off (the topic of the), thread - but I’ve got a Barbour To Ki To hunting jacket labelled ‘Made in China it’s absolutely identical apart from the colour to another my son has which has no country of origin label. I’m pretty sure both are genuine. Ps neither is waxed cotton. I believe the waxed cotton garments are made in the U.K. factory.

 

[Leyomi]

What do you mean by slightly off?

 

[robrinay]

What do you mean by slightly off?

Well it’s a thread about Belstaffs and I’m talking about Barbours so I’m changing the subject ie going off topic. I’ll edit it to make it more clear.

 

[Tom71]

Ok, with pleasure. I should be able to do so on the weekend.

That would be really helpful!

Will have it done on the weekend. Will be interesting to see if anything useful comes up...

 

[Edward]

Slightly off (the topic of the), thread - but I’ve got a Barbour To Ki To hunting jacket labelled ‘Made in China it’s absolutely identical apart from the colour to another my son has which has no country of origin label. I’m pretty sure both are genuine. Ps neither is waxed cotton. I believe the waxed cotton garments are made in the U.K. factory.

Barbour's International was always every bit as good as the Belstaff Trialmaster, and generally markedly cheaper. Some debate about who came up with the design first of course, but then it might not even have been either. This is a style which pretty much every British motorcycle clothing company did a version of back in the day, whether waxed cotton or leather or both. Unlike Belstaff, however, I don't think Barbour ever 'modernised' theirs to include armour, which is likely why Belstaff have continued to be thought of as producing serious motorcycle gear and Barbour have been relegated more to the fashion market.

 

[Leyomi]

I just got the jacket so here are some pictures: some details are very odd, the interior of the tag for instance, or even the inner part of the pockets, I think the leather isn't genuine, could you help me?

 

[Leyomi]

Also, no little metal plate

 

[Leyomi]

Could someone post my photos on https://www.filmjackets.com/forum/?

They do not accept my registration request.

 

[Leyomi]

still need more advice

 

[Mich486]

If you can’t tell it apart from an original then it means it’s good enough honestly looks legit but if I had so many doubts I’ll just move on.

 

[Leyomi]

If you can’t tell it apart from an original then it means it’s good enough honestly looks legit but if I had so many doubts I’ll just move on.

It's just that part, it's really weird

 

[Doctor Damage]

If you can’t tell it apart from an original then it means it’s good enough

This is a point I always make in another forum whenever someone asks about fake Burberry trench coats, etc. There's a belief that if you buy a used Burberry coat then of course it's fake. Except Burberry has been a popular brand for 40 or 50 years and have sold gawd knows how many coats, in fact they've probably sold more coats than there's been fakes made of them. And if the questionable coat you're looking at is made of high quality materials, has the right silhouette, the patterns/lining all line up, and the stitching is perfect, then it's just as good as the real thing so who cares?

 

[Seb Lucas]

I'm not sure I agree on this. I used to work as a sales associate for Ralph Lauren, which is a fashion brand imo. RL had clothing produced in England, Italy, USA, China and low wage countries like Pakistan, India and others.

I had customers who were ready to buy some jacket but changed their mind when they saw it was made in China. Most sensitive to country of origin were the Chinese. Chinese did not want to buy anything made in China.

I guess this awareness is stronger amongst buyers of high end fashion.

I guess this is too small a sample to base a worldview on but I hear you. Some people just buy a brand and don't look further. They may well be disappointed to find 'China' printed there as this doesn't seem special or exclusive - if that's what they are going for. I wonder too if RL shoppers tend to be a particular group.

I am interested in the changing nature of 'fashion'. Do you have a working definition for what this means these days? What makes something a fashion brand? I tend to use it as a put down - something brand based and fashionable in a mainstream subculture (if you can find them still).

I just got the jacket so here are some pictures: some details are very odd, the interior of the tag for instance, or even the inner part of the pockets, I think the leather isn't genuine, could you help me?

Take a deep breath, L, real leather, totally fine.

 

[Marc mndt]

I guess this is too small a sample to base a worldview

I've worked for three other high end luxury brands. Same story, customers don't want something that is produced in a low wage country. If you're buying Hermès or Louis Vuitton, you want it to be made in France. Prada, made in Italy. Etc.

 

[dudewuttheheck]

Fashion brands lying about stuff like that is unfortunately very common.

 

[Marc mndt]

One of the brands I worked for once experimented with having some suits produced in China. Although less expensive, they were clearly better constructed than the ones made in Italy. And even though I could easily point this out to customers, the suits didn't sell too well and the China made product line was discontinued after one season.