Machine sounds dominate the Fretex warehouse. Hands work quickly to keep up with machines rolling without pause. Approximately ten tonnes of clothing packages are opened at the sorting facilities every single day. Everything can appear from the packages – a winter jacket, a children’s shoe, even small kitchen utensils. An item of clothing that belonged to Annie Lennox is among those that ended up in the pile of clothes. Lennox is a Scottish singer, songwriter and political activist who has won several prestigious awards, including Grammy Awards and an Oscar for Best Original Song. ISMAIL BURAK AKKAN/news, Kevork Djansezian/AP/NTB, Fred Prouser/REUTERS/NTB But what does Fretex when they see a Chanel bag that they might not have thought would end up in the recycling bin? – We have a policy to save coats and other valuable clothing for three months before we sell them in the shop, in case someone has made a mistake, says Hilde Kjønstad, chain manager at Fretex. It has actually happened, Kjønstad says smiling. Photo: ISMAIL BURAK AKKAN / news We want to have brands in our stores in good faith that they are genuine, she says. – We can never be 100 per cent sure, but we make assessments before we put them up for sale, both in the shops and at our sorting facilities. Once they received a Hermès Kelly bag with good leather and nice details, which was nicely sewn. But they were unsure if it was real. Then they sent it to Hermès in Oslo. This bag made Fretex employees insecure. Photo: MARIT ØYRE/FRETEX SANDNES – They were also unsure if it was real. Since the bag can cost several hundred thousand kroner, they sent it to the factory in Paris, where it was destroyed because they could not verify its authenticity. The matter continues after the quiz. Will show status A study from 2022 shows a strong increase among European youth when it comes to buying pirated goods. Half of young people in the EU believe it is okay to buy fakes when the price for the original is too high. – People would like to show that they use expensive brands to gain status, says Kjønstad. The market has grown recently as fake brands are easily available online. – Those who produce fake brands do not have time to make neat seams. It is a completely different way of producing, quickly and for profit. Real brands, on the other hand, emphasize quality, says Kjønstad. Replica clothing often has details that reveal poor quality in production. Photo: ISMAIL BURAK AKKAN / news They look at the fabric, seams, colours, codes and logos to verify the clothes. – Our customers also have a lot of knowledge about it. Sometimes we have sold things in good faith and our customers may come and say they think the item is not genuine. Then we take it out and destroy it if we get feedback on it. Photo: ISMAIL BURAK AKKAN / news Illegal According to the Criminal Code, it is not allowed to pretend to have a brand that is not genuine. – We know that replicas are often produced under conditions that are not regulated by the Working Environment Act, and often in the black economy, without paying tax, says the chain manager at Fretex. The clothes are sorted as needed by various stages in the sorting facility. ISMAIL BURAK AKKAN/news Around 6 percent of all goods arriving in Europe are fake, according to a Europol report from 2022. According to Europol, the income from fake brands is used to finance other illegal activities and organized crime, such as human trafficking and drug trafficking. A quick search on the online portals Tise, Temu and Finn yields several results for replica products. Lack of honesty Copying has always been part of the industry and helps to spread fashion quickly, says Ingun Klepp, professor at the Consumer Research Institute SIFO. – A copy does not need to use the original’s logo or brand name. The limit is whether the consumer thinks they are buying something other than what they actually get, says Klepp. She works in SIFO with the consumption of clothes and other textiles. There is much in the clothing industry that is not characterized by truth and openness, says clothing researcher Klepp. Photo: Terje Haugnes / news Pirated copies help consumers to signal prestige and social status in order to fit into certain environments, says colleague Kirsi Laitala in SIFO. – Consumers avoid pirated copies due to emotional attachment to genuine brands, ethical beliefs, and fear of shame or punishment, says senior researcher Laitala. On holiday, pirated copies are bought more impulsively, and availability normalizes consumption, she adds. Replica goods are destroyed by the authorities in the Philippines. Photo: Bullit Marquez / AP Being destroyed Those who work in this black industry often have poor working conditions, which Kjønstad thinks is problematic. – We destroy them to remove them from the market, so that they are not traded on or give us a profit. Don’t send us a replica, asks Kjønstad. Replica clothing is destroyed at the sorting facility. ISMAIL BURAK AKKAN/news Several experts news has spoken to say that it is also a known environmental problem that large quantities of copied goods are destroyed every year, such as sunglasses, bags, shoes, medicines, electronics, batteries and pesticides. – For us it is a cost because we have to destroy it and send it for energy recovery. We certainly don’t want replica clothes. Have you worn fake clothes? Published 30.07.2024, at 18.02
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Fretex’s methods for identifying and dealing with fake brands – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
