Saving bags, businesses and lives

Carrying bags with names like Balenciaga, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Prada has long been part of the daily staples of the rich, the famous and celebrities. In this Southeast Asian version of Hollywood, Filipino stars known for owning these luxury brands include the mega mother-and-daughter tandem Sharon Cuneta and KC Concepcion; Kris Aquino, who loves everything Chanel; Jinkee Pacquiao with her legendary Hermès collection; and, of course, Love Marie Ongpauco-Escudero — the fashionista queen Heart Evangelista.

In my case, whenever I spot these boutiques in high-end malls, I am usually just outside their doors, indulging in my afternoon delight: gawking at the windows of Gucci or taking my early evening fill as I examine the exterior of the House of Givenchy. This window-shopping ritual is my personal homage to that scene of Audrey Hepburn — in her Givenchy dress — having breakfast at Tiffany’s.

So, when I had a chance to learn more about luxury goods and their counterfeit brothers and sisters, I began practicing how to pronounce Balmain, Goyard, Loewe and the rest of the French and Italian brands.

Visionary

Entrupy Inc. APAC regional sales manager Aila Marie Reyes welcomed me, and introduced Entrupy CEO Vidyuth Srinivasan.

“The real victims are the consumers buying counterfeited items. In most cases, they think they got a deal, but they don’t know the real cost of buying one,” Srinivasan said.

Entrupy

Entrupy is an AI-powered service that uses a handheld device and computer vision to authenticate luxury products such as handbags, sneakers and, now, even clothing.

Here’s how it works: the device scans, analyzes and verifies the product. Every scan is added to Entrupy’s database, helping continually train and improve its algorithms.

While buyers may assume that purchasing a fake handbag or watch is a victimless act — and that the old rich, with their genteel manners, won’t dare embarrass a “faker” — the global counterfeit market generates an estimated hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Digging deeper, reports show that many counterfeit manufacturers are linked to organized crime networks involved in human trafficking, forced labor, and other illegal activities.

State of the Fake 2025

According to Entrupy’s State of the Fake 2025 report, Louis Vuitton and Chanel remain the most counterfeited luxury bags worldwide — and in the Philippines. Globally, Louis Vuitton topped the 2024 list, followed by Prada and Gucci.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Prada was the most faked, with Louis Vuitton and Chanel trailing. In the Philippines, Chanel led the pack, followed by Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Goyard, and Dior.

The report, relying on AI-powered tools to examine millions of items, also revealed which brands face the highest risk of being faked relative to submission volume. Globally, Goyard topped the risk list at 22.8 percent, followed by Prada (14.3 percent), Givenchy (11.6 percent), Loewe (10.5 percent) and Saint Laurent (10.3 percent).

The report also shows Louis Vuitton and Prada leading global counterfeit risks based on AI submissions.

In the Philippines, Loewe, Goyard, Céline, Chloé and MCM were considered high-risk. Entrupy data shows that 91.6 percent of luxury items authenticated in 2024 were genuine, while 8.4 percent remained “unidentified” — a stark reminder of the difficulty of verifying authenticity. In terms of submissions, the Philippines ranked eighth globally, trailing the United States, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Reyes said: “What we are seeing now is that more and more fake transactions are happening on social media — Facebook, Instagram — where sellers take conversations to private messages. What’s worse, counterfeiters are actually paying for boosted posts and fake ads.”

She added, “People spend their hard-earned money on these bags, often as gifts or investments. We want to make sure they’re safe, and that they get the quality and value they deserve.”

“We want to encourage shoppers to buy from businesses that put authenticity at their core. Ask them for a third-party certificate — like Entrupy’s Certificate of Authenticity — and verify it online,” Srinivasan said. “What we want to do is one thing: build trust. And by building trust, we hope to stop counterfeit items and scams from happening. We are not just authenticating bags. We’re authenticating trust itself.”