Does anyone know of stores in Taipei that sell Vans? I’ve found a few in Ximen market but their selection was pretty limited.
I know there is a couple of stores in New York, New York (across the street from taipei 101) that sell vans…i think they are on the second floor, but they may be on the 3rd as well…
Check them out carefully. As you know, Taiwan has lots of counterfeit products and I know for a fact that Vans is one brand that has had problems. I also know for a fact that counterfeit goods have been sold openly even in NY NY.
Thanks for the info! About the counterfeits - are these just the ones that look like Vans but don’t have the Vans name on them. Or are there full-on counterfeits out there?
I assume counterfeit Vans have been sold in Taiwan that have fake trademarks/labels. I’ve worked for a couple of law firms that handle anti-counterfeiting criminal enforcement actions in Taiwan against manufacturers and distributors of all types of fake products. You wouldn’t believe all the fake stuff out there – not just CDs, DVDs, video games and clothing, but everything you can imagine, including automotive and machine parts, motor oil, soap and household products (I’ve seen counterfeit toilet cleaner). Usually, they try hard to make it look as real as possible by carefully copying the trademarks and other details.
I think sometimes when they spell the trademark wrong they do so because they believe it will be a valid excuse (we were selling “Junsport” backpacks, not “Jansport”), and there’s no way a judge should buy such an excuse but Taiwan’s judges are often dumb enough to accept that argument. Often the counterfeiter will argue in court that “We picked the name Ralph Loren because we thought it sounded good, but I have never heard of the brand Ralph Lauren.” Seriously, it’s amazing the audacious lies they tell in these case. Other times I believe they mispell trademarks out of their own incompetence. But many counterfeit products can be surprisingly hard to detect and the real company often needs to send an expert to Taiwan to explain how to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit goods.
In the case of Vans, I don’t know for sure, because I wasn’t involved in that case, but I know they have gone after counterfeiters in Taiwan before. Just examine them closely and if you can’t tell the difference, then I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. Incidentally, price is often a way to judge if it’s fake. Counterfeits often sell for a price that the real goods could not match.