Letters: Aug. 23, 2004

(4 of 4)

Your article on counterfeit luxury merchandise, "The Purse-Party Blues" [Aug. 2], never asked why Louis Vuitton or any other high-end manufacturer deserves to be paid $1,500 for a handbag when, as you reported, "a 40-ft. container filled with fake bags can turn a profit of $2 million to $4 million" at $35 a purse. Is the quality of the real designer bag truly worth so much more? Perhaps not, since the president of the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition maintains that "the machines that companies use as legitimate manufacturers are also available to the bad guys." But who are the bad guys here? To me, it's just as criminal to soak consumers for $1,465 more per handbag just because the real Louis Vuitton Speedy bag has a genuine leather zipper toggle and one less stitch on the handle strap. JEFF DEITRICH State College, Penn.

Only an idiot would spend $1,500 for a purse. I fail to see the appeal of these products. They are not attractive, practical or economical. The only selling point is that expensive designer bags are covered with the maker's logo. But that just serves to declare to the world that the owner has no self-confidence and no sense of aesthetics or economics. DEBBIE FIELDS Las Vegas