In lower Manhattan, the diagonal crisscross of 19th-century streets creates a number of oddly shaped blocks. One of them is a pie slice of ramshackle buildings carved into being by the intersection of Canal, Walker, Centre and Baxter Streets. Here, on an average day last year, 32 storefronts opened to the bustle of the sidewalk. Inside were 150 workers, unpacking boxes and calling out prices amid the din of traffic. The shops were open 10 hours a day, seven days a week. None of this was unusual for Canal Street, a seemingly endless tourist trap of keychain racks, CD stands and T-shirt stalls. Certainly, it was nothing worthy of the newspapers.
At least, it wasn’t until the predawn hours of Feb. 26, when a battalion of police officers stormed the gated storefronts with bolt cutters and pry bars, slapping bright orange “Closed by Court Order” notices on the bricks. A tractor-trailer truck idled nearby. Soon, its cavernous interior echoed with the thump of industrial grade trash bags landing one by one, bursting with handbags, scarves, shoes and accessories bearing the most expensive brand names in the world: Dolce & Gabbana, Coach, Louis Vuitton, Prada. By the time the raid was over, the cops would haul off $1 million of merchandise.
And every last thread of it was counterfeit.
For full article, please see Brandweek.
Tags: ACTA · Counterfeit Goods · E-bay · L'Oreal · Louis Vuitton · New YorkNo Comments
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