Quality and Quantity

Asia » China » Beijing » Changping » Changping
October 13th 2013

Published: October 13th 2013

Edit Blog Post

shannonandkendall

The Silk Market

Wow. It's big.

What do you think about knock-offs? Does it matter if you don't get the "real" thing as long as you get its qualities? Does it matter if you just think you do? Does it hurt the industry? What if a country or group of people or individual doesn't have access to the brand or money to buy it?

Today we went to the famous Silk Market in Downtown Beijing. It is like Chinatown in New York EXTREME. There are over 1700 vendors of custom made and retail clothing, home fashion, jewelry, bags, shoes and more. It was extremely overwhelming and exciting. A lot of the styles are the same based on what is "trending." In fact, Kendall bought an outfit for our friend Henry and the particular vendor didn't have his size so she just took a size she had and swapped it with another vendor.

Most of the items for sale were not the real deal, per se. I got some UGG boots for 120 RMB ($20). They can't be UGGs right? But does it matter? They sure are warm! They are sort of cute and sort of ugly just like UGG boots. The sales lady started at about $900 RMB ($150)

arcteryx-real-product-zippers

and within a few minutes of haggling in a mix of Chinese and English, I had my boots. Kendall got an Arc'teryx jacket. It looks nice and streamlined just like they are known to be. The seams are taped. The waterproofing works. The fit is correct for a mountaineering jacket. The tags that are legit say "@2003 ARC'TERYX EQUIPMENT INC All rights reserved." When Kendall looked it up on the internet, Arc'teryx has some indicators that reveal whether or not a pieces is indeed from them. Kendall's jacket is not. Though it has genuine hangtags, genuine lamination and a true logo, the powder coated sliders and velcro tabs are not accurate. He got it for 300 RMB ($50). Will this be a good jacket for Kendall? We will see.

We also snagged a couple of American movies for 10 RMB each ($1.50). Bootlegs. Decent quality. Okay or not? Saw the movie "Before Midnight" for sale. This movie came out in June 2013 in the US but my friend Vicky in China is still waiting for it to come out maybe next month (November) when we will go see it together. I wondered, should I buy it or just wait for the