THE REJUVENATION OF CANAL STREET: FROM A COUNTERFEIT DESTINATION TO A SMALL BRAND UTOPIA

August 26, 2024

If you live in New York City or have traveled to NYC as a tourist, chances are you may have visited the Canal Street area of downtown Manhattan. This is a street that was originally built on a canal that ran from east to west of downtown Manhattan and runs through Soho, Tribeca, Chinatown and the Lower East Side. In the last few decades Canal Street has become notorious as a destination for many tourists (and locals) to visit the many souvenir shops selling NYC paraphernalia. However it has also unfortunately morphed into a destination for selling counterfeit products, such as handbags, sneakers, belts, watches, etc. However in the last few years since lockdown from Covid, the span of Canal Street from West Broadway to Broadway has redeveloped into a destination for young brands that has breathed new life with legitimate and very stylish brands proving a neighborhood can reinvent itself.

What is wrong with Canal Street? Canal Street is a destination where tourists are dropped by in tour buses so they can shop the NYC souvenir shops. What ends up happening is that whether they know it or not, these tourists (and locals) end up supporting an illegal counterfeit industry. While Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Louis Vuitton are just a few blocks away from Canal Street, many of the tourists think they have scored a bargain by buying counterfeit products of these very brands by paying way less than the retail price.

In the last two years the mayor’s office has been organizing raids on these counterfeiters where hundreds of thousands of dollars of product is confiscated and destroyed. Before these recent raids, Canal Street was unashamedly displaying the counterfeit products to the point it was difficult to walk the sidewalks. Now with the occasional raids, the sellers of these illegal wares are more discreet by hiding the products in garbage bags. The police cannot do anything if the product is in the garbage bags but as soon as the product comes out an arrest can be made. You see a well honed operation going on all day of men, primarily African immigrants bringing carts of these bags full of counterfeit items from Manhattan Mini Storage, a well known storage facility near by that has multiple locations in New York. They go back and forth each day, from early morning to the evening carting their illegal wares.

African immigrants line Canal Street selling counterfeit products hidden from their bags.

There are two types of sellers hawking counterfeit product on Canal Street, one is the fore mentioned African immigrants who display their products on the sidewalks and in their garbage bags and the other are mainly Asians who show you pictures of counterfeit handbags and then take you to the back of a souvenir shop (not all souvenir shops on Canal Street operate illegal counterfeit products) where you can pay up to a few hundred dollars for top end counterfeit bags. I have also seen this near exact operation in London and Florence, in their high end shopping districts.

Some of the souvenir shops that dot Canal Street.

What these tourists and even locals who come to Canal Street to shop for counterfeit products are not aware of is the underbelly of the counterfeit world. Most of the attention about counterfeit products laments the lost of revenue and the design theft of the brand involved. This leaves out the most important elements of counterfeit products and that is who creates the illegitimate products and the organized crime lords who profit from these illegal sales.

While people may think they are sticking it to the brand for producing overpriced items, buying counterfeit products comes off the backs of an illegal workforce. Many of those members of this illegitimate workforce are children, trafficked in unsafe factories around the world, mainly in Asia who do not have the government making sure human rights practices are being observed. Even the workforce that are not children are still not working in safe conditions and paid fairly with many of their rights as workers swept under the table. It’s fair to say it’s another form of modern day slavery overseen by international criminals. Click here for a great article in Harper’s Bazaar on the hard facts and dark side of fakes. It was part of my responsibilities as a product developer and production manager for large retail brands to make sure we passed all social compliance regulations to make sure our products were not made from children and all workers were paid fairly, with all their rights as workers intact. In the end you have to ask yourself, “I’m I willing to help contribute to child labor for a fake bag, sneaker or watch?”

The Real Real, a company that purchases legitimate second hand high-end items and sells them mainly through a website with some stores around the country, has recently created a sham storefront on Canal Street that you cannot enter with a display of counterfeit bags from the illegitimate sales of bags on Canal Street. It is done as a protest against counterfeit items yet it fails to educate the public to what goes on behind buying illegal counterfeit items. The high-end brands and The Real Real are mainly concerned about their revenue loss and downplay the human rights issues with counterfeiting. Between this stunt from The Real Real and the lack of education from the mayor’s office, the counterfeit the industry is still strong on Canal Street from Broadway to the Bowery. Luckily on Canal Street from Broadway to West Broadway is another story with many facets both positive and negative.

The sham The Real Real storefront on Canal Street

New York City has a landscape that is in constant change which may that be for the best or the worst. Real estate developers seem to run this town which have made affordable housing not readily available and very unimaginative building designs coming up all over the city making for very odd city scapes. That said communities do come together and occasionally start evolving for the better. In recent years since the lockdown, many of the souvenir shops on Canal Street from Broadway heading west to West Broadway have been slowly replaced one by one by storefronts with young brands selling everything from art to home decor to apparel. You can now walk on the sidewalks without being harassed by counterfeit vendors and visit shop after shop of a well curated selection of small brands. Some of the utilitarian shops on Canal Street are still there and very much needed, like Canal Street Plastics and Canal Street Lighting.

Canal Street Lights has an incredible array of lightbulbs.

Canal Plastics Center has been around for decades and has been an invaluable source for local artists.

Get your disco ball at Canal Sound and light.

What was an embarrassment has slowly evolved into a new community that attracts more unique designers who believe in shopping local and shopping small. Here are some of the brands that have rejuvenated Canal Street and Soho.

Roman and William Guild

Roman and Williams Guild, 53 Howard Street, NYC

Although there is entrance on Howard Street (along with an incredible restaurant, La Mercerie) there is also an entrance on Canal Street between Broadway and Mercer Street. Roman and Williams Guild is the brainchild of Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch who are world renowned interior designers and with this store are sharing their aesthetics of high-end home decor. The store offers a treasure trove of items and furniture from around the globe. Although quite pricey, it is worth visiting alone to see the amazing selection of products made from artisans around the world.

GALLERY GUIDES

Gallery Guides has nothing to do with galleries but it is a very colorful shop that offers sports jerseys from all different sports at very affordable prices. Since there are so many stores nearby with very expensive sneakers it helps that you can get your jerseys for a better price.

GUILD GALLERY

Roman and Williams decided to take advantage of the available storefronts nearby and opened up an art gallery that features artists and artisans they have worked with from around the world.

CLASSIC FOOTBALL SHIRTS

Classic Football Shirts is a brand that offers football (soccer) shirts from teams all over the world for men, women and children. A little bit more expensive than Gallery Guides but way more offerings and more official.

MAXHOSA

MAXHOSA AFRICA, a South African knitwear brand founded in 2010 by Laduma Ngxokolo, originating in the desire to explore knitwear design solutions suitable for amakrwala (Xhosa initiates). Using traditional Xhosa beadwork patterns, symbolism and colors, Maxhosa showcases the beauty, culture, language and aspiration of the Xhosa people of Africa.

DRAKE’S

Drake’s was founded by Michael Drake in East London in 1977. Fast forward 2024 in NYC, under the guidance of Creative Director Michael Hill, Drake's produces soft tailoring in Italy, traditional knitwear in Scotland, shirts in their own shirt factory in Chard, Somerset, alongside premium jersey and an expansive range of outerwear, accessories and Selvedge denim. Drake’s also does “made to order”. You would never have suspected just a few years ago for such a luxury destination on Canal Street.

NORDIC KNOTS

Nordic Knots is a contemporary rug shop that fuses function and aesthetics with a Scandinavian sensibility that craft timeless textiles for the modern home.

CANAL PROJECTS

The art world is coming back to Soho, along Canal Street. Canal Projects is a non-profit contemporary art institution dedicated to supporting international artists at pivotal moments in their careers.

KNICKERBOCKER

Knickerbocker, A men’s New York based brand founded by Andrew Livingston in 2013, has a fusion of classic American style with layered elements of art, music, sports emphasizing tradition, utility and purpose. The bookstore along is worth visiting Knickerbocker.

MERZ B. SCHWANEN

Merz B Schwanen is a Berlin based brand founded in 1911 and reinvented by Gitta and Peter Plotnicki in 2011 based on creating a wardrobe using sustainable methods including up cycling second hand clothes and reviving the loop wheelers that created the original brand.

HAPPIER GROCERY

A new type of local grocery store has opened up that includes a bakery, sushi, pizzeria, groceries of hard to find brands, beverages, merchandise, flowers and even a magazine section that carried zingmagazine which had the issue I curated a section on! Love this place!

SEA

This women’s brand was founded by Sean Monahan and Monica Paolini combining Monica’s eye for vintage-feeling pieces and Sean’s leaning towards more modern, clean styles. The mix of lace, trimming, embroidery and technical fabrics have provided a unique collection.

STELLAR WORKS

Stellar Works is a furniture brand established in 2012 that focuses on fusing two ideas together: East and West, heritage and modernity, craft and industry along with sustainability in their methods of creation.

If you should ever visit Canal Street as a resident or tourist I would hope that you would seek out this more positive side of Canal Street west of Broadway and have a new enlightened view of the dangers and dark side of the counterfeit trade. The future of the east side of Canal Street I believe is going to mirror the west side little by little. What will accelerate this will be when the general public is no longer ignorant of the blatant criminality and human rights violation of counterfeit products. Right now brands highlight the financial loss and design theft which does not galvanize society. The city and mayor of NYC can help educate the public with awareness campaigns and Community Boards can also help by doing what they do best, closing down places when people complain. The best way to help for now is to spread the news and walk on by.

By Natalie Rivera

The Truth Behind Counterfeit Stock

January 17, 2017

The Local Artisan Guide is fortunate enough to be based in downtown Manhattan, in the neighborhood of Soho which has great energy, stores, restaurants and some of the best residences in New York City. Soho is also surrounded by hotels, where you see countless tourists everyday exploring all New York has to offer. Usually their country’s currency is good for shopping in the United States so they have researched ahead of time premier shopping destinations that will give them more bang for their buck (or Pound, Yen, Euro). Soho, Century 21, Nolita, Williamsburg are on their list for shopping and finding great bargains however unfortunately so is an area right next to Soho which is Chinatown.

Chinatown is a great destination in New York City to go to for delicious, affordable food, groceries, cultural shock and wares from Asia. However Chinatown is a destination for many tourist for all the wrong reasons.

Bus loads of tourists make their way to Canal Street and Chinatown every day in New York City to look for inexpensive souvenirs of NYC which are aplenty but even more notorious in this part of town is that Chinatown, especially Canal Street is the mecca for counterfeit products.

Handbags, luggage, watches, fragrances, sunglasses etc. are all counterfeit. They are copies of the most well known international brands in the world; Prada, Gucci, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Tumi, etc. Street hawkers will whisper to you as you go by to look at their wares, they will even invite you into backroom areas to see more high end product they swear are real. If you walk away they will start haggling with you to close the deal.

A view of the counterfeit shops that line Canal St. in Chinatown, NYC and their wares. Hopefully froggy is legitimate.

If you think for one second that the product is genuine or it doesn’t matter purchasing counterfeit products, let me remove all doubt and ignorance so you don’t even begin to justify that you are just getting a bargain or paying what you think is fair and the large multinational conglomerates will not miss a penny.

Counterfeit fragrances sold on Canal St., Chinatown, NYC.

The main bulk of the counterfeit products come from China. China is a master of illegally counterfeiting product. As most mass retailers have their products made in China, there is a culture of factories replicating and selling the products domestically and internationally at a dramatic cut cost in black markets across the world. Many so called reputable factories in China will produce legitimate products legally and near by have a sister factory producing the same stolen designs and intellectual property illegally.

Counterfeit handbags and watches sold on Canal St., Chinatown, NYC.

As a former product development manager who had to travel frequently to Asia to review the product I was developing, I saw whole shopping plazas in China with stores that were all counterfeit. I even once found a store in China that had the name of the brand I was working for even though we did not have a brick and mortar store in the United States. As I looked into the windows of the closed shop, I saw a mixture of our handbag designs and their own designs but with our leathers and fabric patterns. The shop actually looked quite nice and luxurious. However it was all counterfeit. There was a fake Donna Karan shop, fake Calvin Klein, fake Pucci, etc., etc..

Here is what you are contributing to when you buy counterfeit items; besides depriving well known brands of your money for their products, when you buy counterfeit you are contributing to child slavery, dangerous work conditions, poor salaries with workers that have little or no rights plus a multitude of other labor violations. You see, when a factory is illegal there is no regulation of any kind. It is a sweat shop where the government or social compliance auditors cannot oversee to make sure there is a safe, humane labor practice occurring.

Do not try to fool yourself for one minute that this is not the case no matter what the hawker will tell you. Unfair circumstances that we cannot imagine happening are occurring all over the world and when you buy counterfeit product you are not only contributing to it you are encouraging it.

Some of the counterfeit handbag brands sold on the street on Canal St., Chinatown, NYC.

All over the world there are areas like Canal St. that specialize in selling counterfeit items. Once while I was in Florence, Italy walking down one of the streets that legitimately sold the high end accessories brands of the world, I noticed right after the shops closed, immigrant hawkers came and laid out the same counterfeit bags that you saw in the store windows on the ground and for a fraction of their retail cost. It was very bold. Yet still counterfeit.

There are even seemingly nice, legitimate stores in Soho that have a mix of genuine vintage high end handbags and what they claim are an overstock of “it bags”. These bags are very easy to fool even a trained eye. They have quality raw materials, follow the designs of “it bags” and copy the packaging of the bags to the tee. They even have the cards with the certification copied down expertly. If you see a vintage Chanel that you are quite sure is legitimate, why wouldn’t you think the Celine bag that is just a few feet away, still in new condition not real? Be warned these bags are not $100, they are sold for over $1000 and more as they are claiming the product is new or overstock. Remember if its too good to be true, it usually is.

Police raids on vendors selling counterfeit product on Canal St., Chinatown, NYC.

There are frequent raids on Canal St., but the norm is to see sellers are out in the open hawking their wares which makes a tourist think that this is quite legal. However you as the shopper can also get in trouble for obtaining illegal counterfeit product so is it really worth it? Some countries in Europe will give you a ridiculously high fine if they catch you with counterfeit product when you come into customs. If you have any questions on whether a product is counterfeit or not, you can call customer service of the brand you are questioning or Google as there are many articles and sites that teach you how to determine if a product is legitimate or not and how to avoid counterfeits.

So whether its a keychain, handbag, watch or whatever you see hawked on Canal St., Chinatown, (or anywhere around the world that have similar markets) The Local Artisan Guide wants you to remember if you read this article you now know the truth and your decisions are now informed decisions. What kind of world that you would like to contribute to?

No excuses.

By Natalie Rivera

Design Theft

July 22, 2016

The Local Artisan Guide

Design Theft

Last night Ivanka Trump walked onto the stage to the tune of "Here Comes the Sun" (much to the dismay and disapproval of George Harrison's estate) and while she spoke on behalf of how her father Donald Trump was going to make "America Great Again" and his plan to help small businesses, we thought it very hypocritical of Ivanka Trump as her lifestyle brand has been guilty on occasion of practicing the same corrupt methods of her father. Many small business will attest to how the Trump Organization will use their services and then pay a small percentage of their invoice if anything at all causing many businesses to practically collapse or have to let go of employees. Trump Organization assumes that small businesses do not have the funds for a long protracted law suit and bully their clients into accepting little or no pay for their services. Ivanka Trump is apparently a chip off the old block as her brand has been publicly called out and has a few lawsuits against them for design theft.

Ivanka Trump entering and addressing the RNC to George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun". More like "Here comes Trouble".

One of the problems of being a local artisan in today’s world is design theft.

Having worked in the corporate retail fashion industry for almost twenty years in the production and product development arena, this site is familiar with the workings of how large fashion brands create and develop their product.

In the first stage of designing a collection for larger brands the designer is sent on a shopping trip for aspiration and inspiration samples (i.e. other brand’s products). Some brands send their designers on adventures to be inspired by nature, cultures and architecture. However most brands go to Europe or Asia and shop for items of clothing, accessories or jewelry that will be part of their samples for inspiration.

A good designer would take one aspect of something they found on their trip and elevate and/or appropriate the idea to make it their own and within the aesthetics of their brands. It could be a pattern from an expensive piece of vintage wear, a dress from another brand, a piece of jewelry or a button from a low cost brand. Researching on the internet or catalogues has made seeing what is being offered globally much easier for most brands. The design team then creates inspiration boards which reflect trends, materials and color palettes that everyone has agreed to work from to form a cohesive style statement.

However especially in the last few years we are seeing well known brands that are high end or brands that specialize in mass production at low price points blatantly steal the ideas and designs of smaller, local artisans. Brands such as Zara, Banana Republic, H&M, Ivanka Trump and ASOS have knocked off designs of smaller brands without even changing much of the original design. Its not designing just another nude pump or t-shirt, it’s very intricate designs that are being copied detail by detail.

I have heard from many smaller brands that they do not let in other brands in their showrooms or even let buyers or merchandisers come in as they just steal their ideas and designs and have them created elsewhere. This isn’t only for clothing, its footwear, accessories, home decor, jewelry plus other areas of design. Many smaller brands are vulnerable to other designers just coming into their shops and downright stealing their ideas and designs.

These larger brands have access to legal teams and count on the “grey area” of stealing intellectual property from other brands. They rely on the fact that for the most part the local artisan does not have a budget for a legal team to sue for design infringement. Due to this atmosphere there is rampant theft of intellectual property that does not go challenged in the design world domestically and internationally.

While many may appreciate seeing a Gucci or Balmain knockoff in Zara now within reach of their budget they are ignorant that they, the customer contribute to the problem. They remain unaware that many (not all) of the designs they are purchasing are not original and hurt the business of the original designer whether it is high end couture or local artisans.

Much of the blame can be laid at the hands of the venture capitalist who have acquired most of the well known brands you recognize. These investors don’t want to hear that fashion is fickle, they want a return on their investment and for them part of that is laying a very structured design process that doesn’t breed originality. They want a sure deal. Their buyers, sales teams and merchandisers have numbers on what worked and what didn’t so the design team starts out with limits placed upon them even before the design process begins. There are very few brands today that are design driven instead of merchant driven. The big business of corporate fashion is one of the reasons there are so many local artisans out there as they left corporate fashion to design their own lines and bring originality back to their trade.

With the advent of social media, it has been a great tool to put a spotlight on when these infringements happen. Just recently the very artisanal Italian shoe brand Aquazzura has decided to take legal action against the Ivanka Trump brand for blatantly stealing their footwear designs. The style in question is very intricate and it was copied in its entirety. Of course in typical Trump fashion they denied they copied Aquazzura’s design however since the design was quite original Aquazzura feel they have a good case against Ivanka Trump and ask to cease and desist and take the product off the shelves (the main action a brand asks another brand to do when there is design infringement). The Ivanka Trump line also in the past was taken to task by Derek Lam for copying a footwear design that was quite original and not to be mistaken as a design coincidence.

Here is an example of Ivanka Trump's brand blatantly stealing from the smaller more artisan Italian artisan brand Aquazzura.

What is curious about this particular Aquazzura style is that Zara, Banana Republic and ASOS also copied this design yet they have not been sued as of now for design infringement. Aquazzura also is currently suing Marc Fisher for design infringement for another style that again was quite original and hard to believe it was a design coincidence.

One of the problems with corporate fashion and design is that most brands follow very similar processes and trend reports which makes it definitely plausible to have designs that are very similar. If you walk down Broadway now in Soho nearly every mainstream brand has white eyelet clothing and dresses with men’s shirting patterns in similar color palettes. This design process is what the larger brands are counting on for their defense legally as to why their designs are similar to others.

Ironically no one gets as upset or puts more money to stop being copied than the larger, well known retail brands as so much of their production is made in China. The counterfeit problem there is of massive proportions as the Chinese love owning well known brands. There are plazas in China that resemble upscale malls where all the product is actually all counterfeit. The brands get very upset and invest a lot of money to try and prevent factories from copying and distributing “their designs” as they rightly resent the lost of potential revenue. However that is exactly how the local artisan and smaller brands feel too when their designs are copied.

My recommendation for smaller artisans when they see their designs copied by other brands (especially their more intricate, original designs) are to send a cease and desist letter to the brand and use social media to highlight the design infringement. Once its out in social media that a certain brand is stealing designs it is hard to get rid of that reputation and these days reputation is everything.

In the meantime feel free to let The Local Artisan Guide know when this happens and we will be more than happy to shine a light on the matter. If we don’t let them get away with it in the first place this will be a diminishing problem in the design world however we all need to work together in the first place. And to the general public, as a customer you need to take on your responsibility of not shopping in places that you know are guilty of design theft. As for designers, wouldn’t you rather your work be an original? As Oscar Wilde use to say, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”