Luxury Industry Goes Global, Knock-Offs Follow
When Giuseppe Festa, an Italian man who owned a small store in Naples became involved in counterfeiting, he also became a global businessman. Mr. Festa imported watches from Hong Kong through Georgian and Egyptian contacts, paid for the goods through New York and Swiss bank accounts, and distributed them throughout Europe in what amounted to one of the continent’s most successful luxury-goods counterfeiting rings. While Mr. Festa dealt in watches, the counterfeit industry covers everything from compact disks and sneakers to medicine and other luxury goods. With the manufacture of luxury goods going global, counterfeiters have increasing sophistication in shadowing the latest trends. In Asia, particularly China, where most imitations are made, counterfeiters have the opportunity to work in close proximity to the manufacture of authentic products, which had moved in search of low-cost platform. Knock-offs sometimes beat the genuine