According to reports, this foreign trade village is located in Mocheng Street, Changshu City, and consists of several surrounding villages. This place was originally the local foreign trade clothing distribution center. Because of the hot sales of foreign trade clothing, it became known as the “Foreign Trade Village”.
On a wall in the west of the village, there are slogans such as “Welcome to Foreign Trade Village” and “Ocean of Clothing, First-Class Supply Base for Foreign Trade”. However, in recent years, the foreign trade village has become famous for selling “big-name fakes” and has been exposed by the media many times.
Even though local regulatory authorities continue to crack down, the counterfeit goods market in Foreign Trade Village is still rampant. A clothing store owner revealed to a reporter from the Beijing News that in order to avoid inspection, the counterfeit goods stalls in the Foreign Trade Village are now open at night.
When night falls, the narrow streets and alleys of Foreign Trade Village are crowded with people. They called a number at the door, took the black bag thrown by the stall owner, and quickly loaded it into the truck and drove away. The time that belongs to them is only two hours at night.
The clothes in these stores are all “big brand”, ranging from tens of yuan a piece to several hundred yuan a piece. In addition to sports brands such as Nike and Adidas, there are also high-end and even luxury brands such as Canada Goose and Burberry.
The reporter investigated in the foreign trade village for many days and randomly visited dozens of clothing stalls and found that these stores were selling “fake big-name brands.” Many shop owners told the Beijing News reporter that most of the shops in the Foreign Trade Village are engaged in counterfeit goods business. It is roughly estimated that the scale has exceeded 2,000.
Xiao Jia has a clothing stall in Sangyuan New Village. His store carries sports brands such as Champion, Nike, and Adidas. “We make it 1:1. We can imitate it to whatever level we can. If you don’t compare it with the real thing, you can’t tell it’s fake.”
▲The “fake big brands” at the clothing stalls in the Foreign Trade Village. Photo by Beijing News reporter Zhao Min
Gao Lang’s store is in Beicun, Fanjiaxiang. Most of the clothes in her store are big-name women’s clothing. “If you put the LaChapelle label on it, it belongs to LaChapelle.” During the conversation, she took out a black bag from the corner of the counter and took out a FILA sweatshirt with a label and a tag. 80 yuan. “Compared with the genuine product, even the grams are the same. We all sell them as genuine.”
In the foreign trade village, fakes of the same brand will also be produced due to the quality. difference in price.
The reporter saw three down jackets with the same appearance in a store that mainly sells Canada Goose down jackets, but they were marked with prices of 650 yuan, 550 yuan, and 245 yuan. price. The boss said that the amount of down filling, fabric and craftsmanship of each model are different. “The price of 650 yuan can be almost the same as the real thing.”
Clothes of different quality will be Stall owners differentiate and sell to online stores, physical stores and micro-businesses.
The owner of the above-mentioned down jacket store said: “Online stores do a lot of cheap goods, and good quality should be sold in physical stores.” A physical store in Henan took 550 from his store A down jacket worth RMB 1,000 per piece can be sold locally for more than RMB 1,000.
Han Wei’s stall mainly sells fake sports brand goods, and physical stores are his big customers. Han Wei said that his goods are mainly sold to physical stores, such as some brand discount stores. “(Fake goods sold in physical stores) depends on whether it can be done locally and how to sell them. The physical stores will handle it themselves.”
The reporter’s investigation found that on a street in Sangyuan New Village , there are more than a dozen shops selling clothing accessories. On November 13, a shop owner told a reporter from the Beijing News that the industrial and commercial inspections were tight before and after Double Eleven and he did not dare to do brand markings. “Before, many stores here were doing brand markings.”
He introduced the reporter to Shanghai Road one kilometer away, a street with more than 20 accessories stores. The reporter randomly walked into an accessories store, and the store owner quoted a price, “The minimum number of brand labels to make is 5,000, and each one costs 10 cents to 15 cents. It is best to bring genuine labels. We will imitate them and make them for you.” Exactly the same.”
The small commodity market near Shanghai Road is also a gathering area for clothing accessories stores. The proprietress of a shop along the street took out a bag of Champion woven labels and said, “You can just take it away if you want it.” She then took out a sample book with a full set of printed labels from different brands, including Adidas, Puma, Dickies, New Balance, Nike and other brands. “A complete set of collar labels, washed labels, and hang tags costs about 1 yuan.”
▲The store displays a customizable “brand logo”. Photo by Beijing News reporter Zhao Min
Public reports show that since at least 2016, Changshu City law enforcement departments have begun to investigate and deal with fake goods in the Foreign Trade Village. In 2017, Changshu City dispatched more than 100 police officers and destroyed 8 fake manufacturing and sales warehouses. They seized on the spot counterfeit sports brands such as Adidas and Nike, and counterfeit clothing, bags, watches and other accessories from Burberry, Versace, Prada and other luxury brands, totaling more than 100,000 items. cases, involving a total amount of more than 20 million yuan.
In August 2019, the Changshu Municipal Market Supervision Bureau and the public security organs jointly conducted inspections on production, warehousing, and sales in the Changshu Garment City area.Carry out law enforcement and rectification actions throughout the chain. Law enforcement officials said that with the in-depth implementation of law enforcement operations, the phenomenon of blatant sales of counterfeit brand-name clothing in stores has been basically eliminated. However, the sales method of unscrupulous merchants has changed to an online sales model, and the production and warehousing sites have become more hidden and dispersed.
Under increasingly severe crackdowns, counterfeit goods shop owners in Foreign Trade Village have become more secretive in their transactions. </p
