As the desire to own a piece of Louis Vuitton's collection grows, so does the market for counterfeit goods. Given the recent loss of Michael Jordan's court case, China shows no signs of stopping one of their most profitable hustles. However, it appears that China is the least of the problems the big players of high fashion have, given that emerging markets from Russia and the Phillippines have taken over. As demand and competitions grow, profit margins are sacrificed and quality grows. This may lead to the assumption that the counterfeits have become good enough to be considered inseparable from the real deal. Though over the years this may become the case for a very small amount of factories, there is still a long way to go and it seems that the same mistakes are being made to highlight what exactly separates the real deal to the third world clone.

1) The Metal

Any Louis Vuitton bag will contain the famous metal tags and zippers. For genuine products, these are close to flawless and will hold the test of time, with bags as old as 30 years still maintaining a better condition to their ingenuine counterparts, whose zips and tags tend to fade.

2) The Datecode

Most Louis Vuitton bags will have a Datecode (all Louis Vuitton bags, if produced in the last 38 years). The Datecode serves the purpose you would assume, it shows the date the bag was made. It also shows the country in which the item was produced, each country has its own set of codes. 

Countries and their Datecodes:

made in France- A0, A1, A2, AA, AAS, AH, AN, AR, AS, BA, BJ, BU, DR, DU, CO, CT, ET, FL, LW, MB, MI, NO, RA, RI, SD, SF, SL, SN, SP, SR, TJ, TH, TR, TS, VI, VX
made in Italy- BC, BO, CE, FO, MA, RC, RE, SA, TD
made in Spain- CA, GI, LO, LB, LM, LW
made in U.S.A.- FC, FH, FL, LA, OS, SD
made in Switzerland- DI, FA
made in Germany- LP

(Source: Lollipuff)

Of course, when opening a Louis Vuitton wallet, you will see that it shows "made in France" for example. However, if it shows a LP Datecode (Germany) it is a clear counterfeit. Some counterfeits won't even include a Datecode!

3) The Stamp

The famous "LOUIS VUITTON PARIS - made in Paris" stamp may be the easiest way to detect a counterfeit. Clear giveaways are those such as:

The letter spacing - too much spacing = definitely a counterfeit

Overly rounded "O" in "LOUIS VUITTON"

Oval-like "O" in "LOUIS VUITTON", now looking like "L0UIS VUITT0N"

The T's in "VUITTON" being very close to each other, as if they were touching.

As Lollipuff explains in further detail, there are very few exceptions to these rules, though they do exist nonetheless.