Are you being fleeced for fake cloth brands?

Surprised at the bad quality of the branded clothes you bought from the showroom in upmarket Satellite area? Don’t be for, you are not alone!

There are thousands like you who unwittingly fall prey to an unorganised network spread from Punjab to Ahmedabad, which sells duplicate garments worth millions of rupees every Diwali.

The city police recently registered four such cases, all from the western part of the city. The latest were in Vastrapur and Naranpura, when three people were arrested and garments worth around Rs2 lakh with duplicate tag of brands were seized from the posh shops. The police seized trousers, T-shirts and other garments with tags of brands like Levi, Polo, Tom Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Lacoste and hundreds of other brands.

“However, a large chunk of these unbranded garments had already been sold to thousands of unsuspecting customers in the city,” the police sources claimed.

Selling unbranded products as branded is not new for Ahmedabad, but such sale at posh showrooms and malls has shocked even the garment traders. Talking to DNA, president, Gujarat Garment Manufacturers Associations, Vijay Purohit said that the entire nexus is operated with the help of traders, shop owners or even the malls in the city.

He condemned the racket and said that while manufacturers across the state work hard to promote their own brands, such duplicate products are brought from the northern parts of the city.
Regional manager, IPR Vigilance Services Private Limited, Darshak Parekh said that these products are manufactured in Ludhiana in Punjab and sent with tags of well-known brands to agents in Gheekanta area. The Gheekanta market is one of the leading wholesale garment markets of India.

“The garments are then routed to retailers, which then reach customers,” he said. However, so
far neither the police nor the brand manufacturers have failed to curb these activities.