Lagos - French fashion house, Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton or shortened to LV, is to open its flagship store in Nigeria this Christmas.
But fashionistas and lawmaker's girlfriends should not start rejoicing yet, as the store to be located on Adeola Odeku Street in Victoria Island Lagos is not for the sale of the fashion brand's much sort after luxury goods, but for the purchase of imitations of real LV items.
Speaking at the annual shareholder’s meeting of the brand, Monsieur Marquis De Sade explained the rationale behind opening the ‘Fake LV buyback’ store in Lagos in Nigeria.
According to him, representatives of the brand have for sometime been working with Nigerian anti-piracy officials to arrest the alarming proliferation of fake LV goods in the country.
But sadly, he said, the extent of the problem was discovered to be beyond the powers of anyone.
In Nigeria, he said, there are fake LV belts, fake LV shoes, fake LV bags, even fake LV fans!
He narrated the confusion of one LV staff attached to the Nigerian Copyrights Commission, NCC, who while on a field trip in Nigeria, discovered LV phones for sale in popular Alaba market in Lagos.
According to him, the young man had to call the head office in France to ask whether LV had started making phones.
He explained that in light of the magnitude of the problem, the only logical strategy left for the board of directors was to stop trying to fight the scourge of fake LV goods and to start buying back the counterfeit items.
It was, according to him, a matter of protecting the brand.
In a copycat move, fashion label, GUCCI, has also announced its intention to open a ‘Fake goods buyback’ store in the country.
The company has even gone ahead and printed adverts in national newspapers such as The Guardian, saying that it would only pay for fake GUCCI products but not GUSCI, GUSSI, GOCCI, or GUCHI items.
- Joe Aibozaw