A Wren Says

You know what was wild to me? While I was in Nigeria, I saw someone walking around with a Balenciaga t-shirt and multiple women with Chanel bags. You might think to yourself, “Is that really that odd?,” but I will push back and say that I saw a lot of designer brands.  A lot. The reason that was odd to me is the setting that I saw them: walking through the dirt roads, hanging in steel roofed roadside shops, and in places without electricity. There was even an entire store in the Asaba Mall that only sold designer shoes at prices that would be equivalent to $50-$75 dollars. I was baffled.

Now, I am not one who goes about verifying the authenticity of luxury goods, but even I know to question the pair of flip flops that said PRARA instead of PRADA and logos stitched on the back of taxi cabs. But what about the other items?

There are few things at play. The first is the secondhand market. You know how you drop your unwanted clothes in those bins? Someone else is dropping off designer clothes and then those are going off to later be sold in markets. (You can watch this video and read this article to learn more about this and its impact on Nigerian fashion talent.) Then the second thing is that there are counterfeits in the market, just like everywhere else. The last is one that I can’t get my head around. Why were there so many LVs stitched on the backs of cabs or drawn in market places?

I think more than anything, instead of continuing to pick this apart, I have to ask myself about my own assumptions. What are my thoughts about designer goods? Do I have beliefs about where they should or should not be? I can (and probably will) try to learn more about why people choose to buy designer goods or at least look as if they possess them. This trip has me more curious about consumer behavior and the ways that culture and socioeconomic decisions affect our choices in this category.

What about you? Where have you seen designer logos where you least expected them? Especially if it were a fake non-authentic item?