The Fake McCoys

Recession be damned the young cant give up the good life even if it means shifting from real to fake With salary and job cuts squeezing wallets many youngsters are buying fake products to keep up their style quotient says Shashank ShekharThey have seen it bought it flaunted it but are now too ashamed to admit they cant afford it anymore So they are faking itWe are talking about the good life here which the upwardly mobile young working Delhiite had become used to Till the recession hit he was splurging on branded clothes and stylish accessories But now he is making secret trips to the grey market to maintain his expensive lifestyleThrough the fake mirror A customer trying out a pair of glares at Janpath in New DelhiIf shopkeepers at Delhis grey markets are to be believed the demand for fakes of branded products has gone up by 25 to 30 per cent in the recent months And instead of cheap imitations buyers are demanding exact replicas of new models of brands being launched in the market Gaurav Singhal working as a manager with an MNC in Gurgaon is a member of the fake clan Once a regular at plush South Delhi malls Singhal is now shopping at fake paradise Palika Bazar courtesy the recent 20 per cent cut in his salary From Palika he has picked up the latest model of his favourite Swiss watch brand at onethird the price of its real version We have not undergone any salarycut so I cant say if employees from our company are buying replica products But I know of many others who are doing so Brandconscious youngsters dont want to compromise on styleu00a0And highquality replicas are a smart alternative to the expensive real product said Harsh Vardhan Singh an HR manager with a retail chainAs good as realWith increasing demand the shopkeepers too have become careful about the quality of the fakes There has been an increase of 20 to 30 per cent in demand and most of the buyers are young men We get our watches from Southeast Asian countries and stock all the good brands Due to the cheap rates and high quality buyers have graduated from the firstrung Rolex Rado Armani and Tissot to superpremium luxury watch brands like Breguet Baume et Mercier Breitling Corum Fendi Girards Perregaux Raymond Weil and Ulysse Nardin No showroom can distinguish between the original and replica We also offer one years free service said Ravi a shopkeeper at Palika BazaarFake but not cheapThe new customer however doesnt want a cheap fake He has an eye for detailsu00a0I have been selling replicas of international watch brands for the last seven years But the taste of buyers has changed drastically over the last few months There has been a sharp increase in buyers who come to us with photographs of the latest models We deliver them within 15 to 20 days Most of these customers have used the real products so they are discerning while buying replicas said Amjad another shopkeeper at Palika BazaarNot only watches the demand for fake sunglasses purses and premium pens are on the rise as well And with these products too shopkeepers agree the customer has specific demandsu00a0Young professionals are asking for stylish shades with the brand name etched on the sunglass frame Earlier the demand was more for lowquality products but now we have buyers who are ready to pay as much as Rs 1000 for luxury sunglasses said Ullas a shopkeeper from JanpathExpert speakSocial scientist Shiv Vishwanathan has an explanation for this fakedrive Most young professionals come from the middleclass and are statusconscious For them its very important to maintain a certain standard of life So they buy replicas Authenticity doesnt matter much Germany saw a similar social trend when the television was launched Many people used to hang television antennas outside their homes even if they didnt have a set to maintain their social status