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Monday, September 13, 2010

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...

11 comments:

Amanda said...

I love that robot fabric. I just ran out a few months ago. I'm glad I didn't try to buy any more, I probably would have made the same mistake. In a side-by-side comparison I can really see the difference in the quality of the fabric. What a bummer!

www.RubysSlippers.etsy.com

andrea creates said...

wow-that's strange.i buy my fabrics in person usually, so i haven't seen that before.sorry that happened to you:(

germandolls said...

The problem is you can't find Kokka fabrics in stores around here! I have to drive to Denver to find such fabric. If I had seen this in a store I never would have bought it...

XUE said...

Oh dear! I am living in Tokyo, buy loads of Japanese fabrics in person but would find it hard to spot the difference ! Happy Mooncake Fest from over here!

{kimmymade} said...

Oh, I am sorry -- that is such a bummer :-( If you don;t want to call out the seller on your blog, would you be willing to email me privately so that I don't make the same mistake?

Anonymous said...

I think you should let Kokka know, so that they can deal with it. I don't know what the copyright laws are in Japan, but if they are being wronged, I'm sure they'd love to get their lawyers on it.

BBB said...

Yes I would also tell kokka. Thank you for sharing!

patchworkdelights said...

Wow this is very interesting as I buy fabric for my craft from Taiwan and Japan and would never have thought there would be a "fake" version of it, I mean who would have thought! Thanks for the post very eye opening!

germandolls said...

I did tell Kokka! Unfortunately they say they cannot do anything about the fakes. Looks like we all have to play detectives ourselves! The only thing you can do to be safe is ASK the seller BEFORE you buy the fabric! You can tell the real stuff by looking at the desinger information. If there is no name on the salvage you have received a fake!

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Mike said...

I think the little robots on the fabric is very cute.