LONDON — China‘s highly sophisticated counterfeit industry has been utilized as a weapon to demystify luxury manufacturing with a recent trend on Western social media platforms dubbed “trade war TikTok.”
Following rounds of price hikes during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, luxury items have become generally unaffordable to the American middle class.
Multiple viral videos circulating on TikTok claim that luxury quality items can also be made in China, and allege that traditional European luxury brands have been milking the American consumer with items that cost nowhere near to make versus what they retail for.
In one of the videos, a Chinese man sat in a leather factory setting and claimed that a Hermès Birkin costs around $450 to make.
It is no secret that some brands work with China-based manufacturers to produce some styles, although most leading players restrict their manufacturing to Europe.
These China collaborators have usually become publicly listed companies over the years, such as Hangzhou’s silk giant Wensli, footwear expert Stella International and the Hong Kong-based Crystal Group, meaning they won’t allow their employees to share what’s being made on the factory floor on social media.
What TikTokers in the West see now is the same content, but in English, that has populated Chinese social media for years.
On Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, owned by the same parent company, ByteDance, its livestream feed is filled with dupe sellers promoting items that claimed to be a Max Mara coat, a Burberry check shirt, a Goyard tote, a Vuitton “It” bag and a wide array of Hermès bags, ranging from normal leather options to rare ones like Kelly Doll, Faubourg Birkin and Diamond Himalaya Birkin with fast-fashion level price tags. None of the above-mentioned real producers are made in China.
While the platforms and Chinese authorities have consistently cracked down on the counterfeit sector, the reality remains luxury dupes can be purchased as easily as groceries in China if you know the right keywords to search, such as Yuandanweihuo, meaning surplus from international orders; Zhengqueban, meaning correct version; Yibiyi, meaning exact replica, and Nanyou, a region in Shenzhen that’s become synonymous with quality dupes.
Counterfeit sellers on Taobao selling Miu Miu Ivy Tote, Hermès Herbag and Bottega Veneta Andiamo bag.
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A casual browse on Taobao can easily turn up vendors selling a whole range of in-season Miu Miu counterfeits. The pictures would show a different spelling of Miu Miu, such as “Niu Niu” or “Min Min,” but if you put in a request via customer service, the seller will promise you that the item will come with the correct spelling.
According to Joseph Zhang, the owner of an OEM manufacturer factory that produces for the likes of St. John and Mackintosh, the counterfeit frenzy will only draw awareness to “different grades of luxury goods.”
“A lot of these factories might have produced for big luxury names before, and now they’ve decided to put serious money into a start-up making luxury lookalikes. This might fool the average shopper, but not the experienced luxury consumer,” Zhang said.
“Doing this kind of fashion is like building an iPhone, what makes the difference is the chip, if you know, you know,” he added.
For Zhang, instead of selling the logo-adorned luxury dupes, a more viable business model is to create a white label that models after “quiet luxury” brands such as The Row, or as dupe sellers put it on Aliexpress, The R0w, with a 0, instead of “o” to avoid dispute.
“Quality garment is what China is good at producing, we are also good at blending in with the local culture, not standing out,” he said.
The landing page of DHGate.
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The rise of dupe sellers on TikTok with immersive and entertaining content, linking political affairs and pressing issues with counterfeit goods, shines a light on another side of China that’s remained largely unexplored under the Western mainstream media narrative that Chinese manufacturing, just as its cultural soft power, is taking up global market shares at speed.
As TikTok refugees migrated to Xiaohongshu en masse ahead of a now-paused U.S. ban in January, American shoppers are now looking for places even cheaper than rock-bottom retailers such as Shein, Temu and Aliexpress, amid a potential 245 percent tariff slapped on goods from China, and the ending of de minimis shipments from China and Hong Kong from May 2.
DHGate, a business-to-business cross-border e-commerce wholesale marketplace from China, became the second-most downloaded app in the U.S. Apple App Store on Wednesday. On the site, shoppers from more than 220 countries can buy China-made goods across 26 categories, including apparel, electronics, home and toys, and outdoors.
Named after the city of Dunhuang, where the ancient Silk Road starts, DHGate said it “prioritizes reliability, convenience and efficiency, enabling our esteemed global buyers and sellers to connect and trade seamlessly.”
It said it mostly uses international shipping couriers, such as DHL, UPS and FedEx, and has stringent quality control measures, including supplier selection criteria, dispute resolution mechanisms, and secure and streamlined payment processes, for smooth transactions.
“Our popular business model is ideal for drop shippers looking for trouble-free sourcing options from reliable suppliers, with the items shipped directly to their customers, reducing inventory management efforts and shipping expenses,” DHGate said.
But Zhang thinks DHGate’s shoot to fame is a case of influencer marketing in the U.S., in particular on TikTok.
“Chinese people are very sensitive to trends and hype; they then quickly mobilize influencers and create headline moments like this one. They first did it in China, now they’ve unlocked America,” Zhang said. “Chinese people might not be the best at creating a trend, but we are good at figuring out what people like with data.
“Look at how popular ShowSpeed was in China last week. What does this say? You only need one touch point to ignite fervor, the rest is the supply chain,” said Zhang, referring to the YouTuber with 39 million followers, who showed an unedited version of modern China and interactions with real Chinese people through his livestream in cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu.
“In this sense, DHGate is not that valuable, it’s just a middleman. If you look at the data, this is only hype; actual sales didn’t even reach that of the Amazon Puffer a few years ago,” Zhang added.
He was referring to the Hixiaohe women’s winter crop vest, which comes in an inclusive size range of XS to XXL and 18 colors. The style first went viral on TikTok and later racked up many five-star reviews since it dropped on Amazon. Buyers of all walks of life said they can’t get enough of this piece because it flatters anyone who throws it on.