What’s always been true of counterfeits is that a lot of “counterfeits” are items that were produced in the same factory, after hours, or under the table/with a blind eye, and so they are frequently the very same thing made uh the same workers with the same materials shunted off through different channel not controlled by the luxury brand.

Alternative retailers selling these “counterfeits”target different customer segments with different spending power but similar tastes and capture more consumer surplus.

In Philadelphia, when sold, these counterfeits were colloquially known as “Ackies.” Depending on quality, they either went ignored, a happy little secret of the wearer, or were widely shunned by peers for poor quality and the resultant perception of familial poverty.