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Authorities Seize $18 Million Worth Of Fake Louboutins!

By Glamour Magazine Aug 17, 2012 4:33PM

by Tracey Lomrantz Lester, Glamour

It's a crime of fashion even worse than wearing a white bra under a white T-shirt: The U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized a shipment of more than 20,000 pairs of fake Christian Louboutin shoes yesterday!

As ABC News reports, "U.S. Customs and Border Protection confiscated 20,457 pairs of counterfeit Christian Louboutin shoes at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport. According to the CBP, the knock-off shoes that were transported in five different shipments on a cargo ship in large boxes from China had a domestic value of more than $57,000, meaning it cost just less than $3 per pair to make them. Officials said there were enough of those red soles to add up to a suggested retail value of $18 million, an unbelievable profit."

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So, what tipped authorities off that the stems were phonies? "The original [Christian Louboutin] shoe is made in Italy,” said chief CBP officer Guillermina Escobar. “Once we saw it was coming in from China, we knew there was a problem with the shipment.” The fakes are also pretty awful, if you ask us--check out the photo above, where they're clearly labeled "made in China" of "all man made materials."

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Thankfully, all 20,000+ pairs will be destroyed, likely by burning.

Fashion industry 1, counterfeiters, 0!

Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images News


More from Glamour:
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54Comments
Aug 17, 2012 8:15PM
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Meanwhile, back in China, their working on the next shipment.
Aug 17, 2012 7:14PM
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Knock off's cost $3 to make, the real ones cost what, $6, $8? anyone paying the ridiculous prices of these shoes for a name clearly doesn't care if it's real or fake they only care if YOU think it's real because afterall it's just an image
Aug 17, 2012 6:46PM
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China is the biggest counterfeiter of EVERYTHING. I think our customs official should open and inspect EVERYTHING COMING INTO THIS COUNTRY FROM CHINA no matter how long each shipment is delayed or the backlog created.
Aug 17, 2012 8:34PM
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It probably doesn't cost much more to make the real thing.
Aug 17, 2012 6:54PM
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OK, so the knock offs cost $3 to make. How much do the real things cost to make? Inquiring minds want to know.
Aug 17, 2012 7:25PM
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I think the only thing the people of China have not made knock offs of is American citizens. But I am willing to bet that somewhere in China someone is working on it.
Aug 17, 2012 7:23PM
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K, so how much does it cost to make a REAL pair of Louboutins? I bet it's not much more than $3.
Aug 17, 2012 8:38PM
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I don't even know OR care what a Louboutin is...
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