2 Responses to “Louis Vuitton getting holograms and RFID for authentication?”

1. corinne says:

   February 28, 2008 at 8:28 pm

   What other methods could LV employ, then, to stop knock-offs? RFID doesn’t strike me as using an elephant gun to control mosquitoes.

   Did you see this?

   City Agents Shut Down 32 Vendors of Fake Items

   It is a vibrant fixture of Lower Manhattan commerce. Tourists jostle for space at Canal Street’s stores and sidewalk kiosks, bargaining with vendors over sparkly watches, handbags and perfumes with fake designer labels that are sold at a fraction of the cost of the genuine item.

   But over the past five weeks, like the goods that are not what they appear to be, undercover police officers and city agents fanned out and pretended to be real shoppers in an area the mayor called the “Counterfeit Triangle” — which roughly includes Canal, Walker, Baxter and Centre Streets. They picked up items that included a Prada handbag for $40; a Patek Philippe watch and a Rolex for $80, and two pairs of Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses for $18.

   On Tuesday, 32 shops were closed down, a civil lawsuit was filed against the property owner — the estate of Vincent Terranova — and more than $1 million worth of counterfeit goods were confiscated as a result of the more than 40 undercover shopping sprees.

   The vendors will either be right back where they were or they’ll relocate to another part of Manhattan. Raids like this have just a temporary effect.
2. FASHIONPHILE says:

   February 29, 2008 at 5:49 am

   I totally agree… it’s just that LV has always taken such a passive (IMO) approach to authentication/anti-counterfeit measures in their labeling. The date codes you find in any bag (as you know) are repeated thousands of times in other bags- and are only used for “internal” purposes. They could have used a serial number or hologram long ago, and haven’t. I’m just suprised that they go from nothing- to something so much stronger (and more costly) than anyone else is using.