designer replicas, my loves.
i own a replica balenciaga mini rodeo (black, gold hardware) and a replica small loewe puzzle (the studio ghibli soot sprite version) + a replica wallet and bag charm from the same loewe x studio ghibli collaboration. all are beautiful and pretty much indistinguishable from the real versions - stamps, etching and all - and they cost me 10% of the price. that includes the share the sales rep takes as well - the set up generally is that there are sales reps that have access too/can purchase from multiple factories. different factories each have specialities, and different qualities - it's up to you to do research and compare the factory photos from the reps albums. the reps then check stock, you send them money, and they get the back and send over pre-shipment photos to make sure you're happy with the product, if it's all good, it's packaged off and sent out.
there's a risk of customs seizing the counterfeits but often sellers will triangle ship the parcels through a middleman country so customs aren't as wary about it (from china = could be fake shit; from singapore = less suspicious, i guess). it's a lengthy-ish process but so far one i've found to be worth it - the quality and likeness to the original, real designs are extremely close, and not like the shit fakes sourced from places like dhgate/hacoo/aliexpress. there's also individuals/small teams that make custom hermes bags - these run up the most expensive still, up to about $1300/$1500 for normal leather birkins and more for exotics, but that's still a fraction of birkin prices.
in bong money, with shipping included (shipping being about £50 per parcel), the mini rodeo cost just over £250 and the three loewe pieces totalled about £440, i used the same sales rep for both but there's a bunch out there. i spent a lot of time researching and comparing, and there's a trove of information on *cough*reddit*cough* regarding sellers, factories, bag care, what to do, what not to do, etc... everything.
ik the guy above has his link in his bio to purchase bags through him and with the absolute shtiload of people who have seen the tiktoks and the drama, i wonder how the fuck he, or his team, will keep up with the workload. but the chinese are fucking madmen and always one step ahead especially when it comes to manufacturing lmao. the tiktoks also allude to not having the branding/stamping on them which differs from the traditional replicas, so i do wonder whether the bags etc. will be branded or not.
bags are a big one but there's also watches, jewellery (both 18k and plated), shoes, clothes, fuck i've even seen louis vuitton plates and dishware in a sellers album. it's a trove.
but I have relevant commentary!