Fake Fabric

Ever heard of such a thing? I know of forged paintings. Everybody has seen the sellers of fake Gucci handbags and Rolexes. In Germany customs has been cracking down on fake goods forever. But fake fabric? Give me a break!

I never would have thought of that one. Until it hit me last week. I had ordered some fabric on one of my favorite E-sites. The seller is located in Taiwan. I was so happy to find that they still had yardage of two of my favorite fabric patterns by Kokka, a fabric designer from Japan.

After a two-week wait my fabric arrives. The sweaty fingers of the fabric junkie rip through the brown paper envelope, anticipating another "fabric-high". Oh, no! My fabric was stained. It had yellow stains on it since it wasn't wrapped in plastic for the trip. But then I notice something else. What the heck?

This fabric is completely different. It feels rough and tough like sackcloth or a jute bag. What is this? I am checking the salvage line. Does it say Kokka there? Nope. Just the little color dots you normally see on fabric. There is no name. No copyright. No nothing. (see pictures! I put the real fabric next to the fake fabric! What do you think? Were you able to tell?)

I go back and check the listing of the place where I bought it. Clever. Nowhere does it say that I am buying Kokka fabric. Since the pattern looks exactly the same, I put it in my shopping basket, thinking I am getting the real thing. Only now, when I hold it in my hands, it's obvious what this is: A cheap knock-off. Only it WAS NOT cheap...I paid premium bucks - same as if it was the real thing! My bad! One should always ask all the questions when buying. I will be a lot more careful now. But really would you have suspected it?

I am not quite sure what to do with this strange addition to my fabric stash. I feel very bad for the fabric designer/manufacturer in Japan. How is it possible that someone can steal your designs and sell them all over the world? I still love the pattern but I think for now I will just put it in the closet and mark it as a lesson learned...

By the way when I did a search on the subject I found only one other link that talked about this...