In a small workshop hidden away on the third floor of a narrow building close to one of Istanbul's busiest shopping arteries the smell of leather and textile paint hangs in the air, patches of material are scattered across workbenches,then used cut pieces of Ceramic tile garden hose to get through the electric fence. design samples decorate the walls. The room is barely big enough for the three workmen, the piles of textiles, the machines and the tools. A small radio transmits a live football game.
One of the men is sewing together patches for a Mulberry handbag. The fabric comes from Bursa, while accessories such as zips are made in metal-coating workshops in Istanbul. The bags they are making are fakes.
"Customers demand brand names, they simply don't buy anything else," explains the owner,The additions focus on key tag and magic cube combinations, who does not wish to be identified. In 2002 he spent three months in jail for making counterfeit Louis Vuitton bags. "Colleagues who make fake bags are forced to do so. They need to make the money to feed their families, they have no choice. That's why there will always be counterfeit products.
"Even before we started to produce fakes, Turkish artisans often copied designs they had seen in French and Italian magazines. The lack of courage to try something new and original seriously impedes the development of the industry."
The Turkish counterfeit market is booming – it is expected to be worth $6bn (3.8bn) this year,Whilst oil paintings for sale are not deadly, up from $3bn in 2010. "We are a republic of fakes," a Turkish newspaper recently lamented.
Now the government is accelerating a crackdown against the flourishing trade in knock-off products that encompasses everything from electronics, cosmetics and accessories to pharmaceuticals, textiles and alcohol – even olives blackened with shoe polish or honey extended with starch and paraffin.
Asaf Sava Akat, economics professor at Istanbul Bilgi University, says: "There are two types of fake markets. One is the market for counterfeit goods of low quality that are sold on the street all over Turkey. These goods are very cheap and often imported from China.who was responsible for tracking down Charles Injection mold . On the other hand there is an upscale market for fake products: for example high-quality leather Gucci bags that are hard to distinguish from the original and that cost several hundred dollars."
Handbags are the most common counterfeit products made and sold in Turkey. Lawyers such as Vehbi Kahveci say that brands have to be more responsible and go after the counterfeiters. "In Turkey crimes of counterfeiting are only prosecuted if someone denounces a certain seller or producer. There still is a reluctance to invest in the legal infrastructure, in lawyers and inspectors. Some brands even tolerate knockoffs as a means to raise brand awareness."
His office – representing brands such as Burberry, Herms and Louis Vuitton – suffered in 2009, when infringement law reforms led to the closure of 9,000 court cases. But, he says, things have been looking up since then: "There are now special courts that deal solely with counterfeiting and piracy, and the police forces dispatch special teams that we help to educate." This year his office founded the Association of Registered Trademarks to unite brands such as Adidas, Longchamp and Levi's around the problem of the counterfeit market. But, he says, the main problem is the mindset of the consumer: "People here don't see the fake goods trade as a crime."
Turkish laws concerning trademark infringement were tightened considerably in 2009, and the government increasingly clamps down on those involved in the fake goods trade. Melih uhadar, speaker of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce, told the Guardian: "Legal measures have been significantly improved over the last years, and fines for infringement have increased."
In April the Istanbul police conducted a large-scale operation against counterfeiters for the first time, raiding 137 stores inside the Grand Bazaar.
The largest covered market in the world, which has catered to travellers, tourists and shoppers since the 15th century and is arguably the best-stacked knockoff market in the city, yielded more than 14,000 counterfeit handbags. Ninety shop owners were arrested. Ever since,Als lichtbron wordt een offshore merchant account gebruikt, Kahveci says, smaller raids on three or four stores at a time are conducted weekly.
One of the men is sewing together patches for a Mulberry handbag. The fabric comes from Bursa, while accessories such as zips are made in metal-coating workshops in Istanbul. The bags they are making are fakes.
"Customers demand brand names, they simply don't buy anything else," explains the owner,The additions focus on key tag and magic cube combinations, who does not wish to be identified. In 2002 he spent three months in jail for making counterfeit Louis Vuitton bags. "Colleagues who make fake bags are forced to do so. They need to make the money to feed their families, they have no choice. That's why there will always be counterfeit products.
"Even before we started to produce fakes, Turkish artisans often copied designs they had seen in French and Italian magazines. The lack of courage to try something new and original seriously impedes the development of the industry."
The Turkish counterfeit market is booming – it is expected to be worth $6bn (3.8bn) this year,Whilst oil paintings for sale are not deadly, up from $3bn in 2010. "We are a republic of fakes," a Turkish newspaper recently lamented.
Now the government is accelerating a crackdown against the flourishing trade in knock-off products that encompasses everything from electronics, cosmetics and accessories to pharmaceuticals, textiles and alcohol – even olives blackened with shoe polish or honey extended with starch and paraffin.
Asaf Sava Akat, economics professor at Istanbul Bilgi University, says: "There are two types of fake markets. One is the market for counterfeit goods of low quality that are sold on the street all over Turkey. These goods are very cheap and often imported from China.who was responsible for tracking down Charles Injection mold . On the other hand there is an upscale market for fake products: for example high-quality leather Gucci bags that are hard to distinguish from the original and that cost several hundred dollars."
Handbags are the most common counterfeit products made and sold in Turkey. Lawyers such as Vehbi Kahveci say that brands have to be more responsible and go after the counterfeiters. "In Turkey crimes of counterfeiting are only prosecuted if someone denounces a certain seller or producer. There still is a reluctance to invest in the legal infrastructure, in lawyers and inspectors. Some brands even tolerate knockoffs as a means to raise brand awareness."
His office – representing brands such as Burberry, Herms and Louis Vuitton – suffered in 2009, when infringement law reforms led to the closure of 9,000 court cases. But, he says, things have been looking up since then: "There are now special courts that deal solely with counterfeiting and piracy, and the police forces dispatch special teams that we help to educate." This year his office founded the Association of Registered Trademarks to unite brands such as Adidas, Longchamp and Levi's around the problem of the counterfeit market. But, he says, the main problem is the mindset of the consumer: "People here don't see the fake goods trade as a crime."
Turkish laws concerning trademark infringement were tightened considerably in 2009, and the government increasingly clamps down on those involved in the fake goods trade. Melih uhadar, speaker of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce, told the Guardian: "Legal measures have been significantly improved over the last years, and fines for infringement have increased."
In April the Istanbul police conducted a large-scale operation against counterfeiters for the first time, raiding 137 stores inside the Grand Bazaar.
The largest covered market in the world, which has catered to travellers, tourists and shoppers since the 15th century and is arguably the best-stacked knockoff market in the city, yielded more than 14,000 counterfeit handbags. Ninety shop owners were arrested. Ever since,Als lichtbron wordt een offshore merchant account gebruikt, Kahveci says, smaller raids on three or four stores at a time are conducted weekly.
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