When shopping online for Chanel, especially secondhand, one of the biggest challenges is telling the real deal from the fakes.
Follow the simple guide below to define a fake Chanel bag:
1) Confirm that pebbled leather has a unique imprint, and not a repeated pattern as fake leather often does. Lambskin should have that fine, buttery soft texture, while calfskin is tougher and very durable. Lambskin bags usually have “lambskin” in the title, so you’ll know to look for it, but others aren’t so obvious. Calfskin is always used in shoppers and totes, as well as the Cambon line.
You’ll also want to check the leather for glue residue, since a lot of knockoffs are glued together and only have superficial stitching. And speaking of stitching, it should be even, neat and strong. Vintage bags should have a minimum of 10 stitches per inch.
2) Real Chanel hardware should never bend or tarnish – that includes zippers, studs buckles, clasps and chains. As for the CC clasp, the right C passes over the left at the top, and the left passes over the right at the bottom. Look inside and confirm that they use flat head screws and that the words ‘Chanel’ and ‘Paris’ appear to the left and right.
3) The CC logo on your bag’s interior can tell you a lot. Firstly, the space between the C’s should be identical to the width of each letter. The CC should also be slightly raised, something a lot of designer replica handbags tend to overlook.