NEWSLETTER

Photo by Nick Chen-Yin

Even after frequent raids by the police, many Chinese vendors here have little concern for the law. The odds of getting busted are far lower than the amount of money they could be making selling burnt copies of Pan’s Labyrinth. Some shops are “managed” by local triad members.

Vice: So how long have you been in Canada?

Jane: Four years. I lived in Shanghai till I was 14 and then moved here because life’s better here than in China. I came by myself. My parents and grandparents are still in China. Sometimes I go back to Shanghai and visit my family and then go to the factories to look for things to sell in our store. In Shanghai they manufacture many imitations. You can get anything there. Any name brands, they got it.

And the Chinese government doesn’t do anything?

No. They can’t do anything because the factories will sell to street vendors who sell to other vendors then they sell to you. Get it? They don’t know who to look for. There are too many people there to do anything—too many people making imitations. Besides, the Chinese government doesn’t really care.

Photo by Dennis Duijnhouwer

Most Chinese immigrants in Amsterdam are involved in the restaurant business. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find Shanghai-manufactured bootleg clothes here. Enterprising Dutch kids buy stuff straight from China over the internet and then sell the counterfeits to their friends.

Filip [not his real name] is a 23-year-old student in Amsterdam. He makes about 1,200 euros a month selling fake stuff from China.

Vice: So what do you sell?

Filip: Sweaters, jeans, jackets, and caps by Bathing Ape, Billionaire Boys Club, Red Monkey, LRG, D-Squared, 10 Deep, and Artful Dodger.

And they’re all fake?

No, they’re replicas. I don’t like to use the word “fake,” because they’re made really well. The other day I heard that even satellites have “fake” Chinese parts in them. Nobody can tell the difference anymore. Same with my stuff.

Do you like the items you’re selling?

I like some stuff. It depends. I don’t like the unsubtle hip-hop gear. I like Bathing Ape. It’s really original.

Where in China does your stuff come from?

I’d rather not say, as that might increase my competition. Once you know where the factory is, you can easily find my contacts.

Do you know what the people in the factory make?

Less than $100 a month normally. Every factory in China is like that. That’s where all the noneducated people end up. These factories produce textiles for the original brands, but then they make extra. They add things like zippers and buttons themselves. Then, sooner or later, other factories can make them too. The fake business is a sideline to the factories’ legitimate work.

How much profit do you make?

I make 100-percent profit and I’m still 400-percent cheaper than the originals.

Who are your customers?

All kinds of people. I’ve got white high school hip-hop kids, young criminals on probation who take anger-management courses, a professional basketball player, kids who come with their moms… Basically anyone between 14 and 20.

How long will you keep doing this?

As long as new brands are getting designed and cool stuff is coming in, I don’t see a problem. People here don’t want to deal with Chinese people in English, which is what you have to speak to them if you don’t know Chinese. So as long as people are lazy, I’ll keep doing it.



A group of workers punch the clock at a resin factory in Guangdon, China. They have only just shuffled over from the factory dorms that they live in, which are right next door. Convenient, huh? Some of the bigger factories even have their own banking systems and supermarkets, as well as four-star hotels for visiting businessmen. Nobody ever has to leave the compound. It’s kind of like Depression-era sharecropping, except it’s NOW. Photo by Stacy Kranitz.



The factory that these girls work in employs people to apply waterproofing resin to fabrics and other materials for several major US chain stores. In plain English, that means a highly toxic place to spend your really, really long shifts earning pennies a day. Photo by Stacy Kranitz.


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