Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Nike... 360,000 Counterfeit Items Seized This Year

Data on Hong Jeong-min, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] As the resale market for luxury goods and sneakers grows, counterfeit product distribution has still not been eradicated.

According to data submitted by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) for the National Assembly audit on the 21st, provided by Hong Jungmin, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, a total of 8.67 million counterfeit items were seized and confiscated by KIPO over the past six years from 2017 to August this year, with the genuine product value reaching 240.4 billion KRW.

Looking at the annual seizure status, about 360,000 items were confiscated from January to August this year, 78,000 items in 2021, 720,000 items in 2020, 6.26 million items in 2019, 540,000 items in 2018, and 690,000 items in 2017.

Also, examining this year's crackdown status by brand, based on genuine product value, Montblanc (14.3 billion KRW, 48,303 items), Nike (5.8 billion KRW, 80,866 items), Ferragamo (4.3 billion KRW, 18,712 items), Tommy Hilfiger (3.3 billion KRW, 32,438 items), and Chanel (1.5 billion KRW, 12,407 items) were seized in that order.

In the case of last year, Rolex (11.1 billion KRW, 275 items), Chanel (6.4 billion KRW, 3,366 items), Louis Vuitton (4.2 billion KRW, 5,411 items), Cartier (4 billion KRW, 308 items), and Audemars Piguet (3.5 billion KRW, 44 items) were seized in that order.

By item category, over the past six years, clothing (752,412 items) was the most seized, followed by cosmetics (508,634 items), jewelry (67,739 items), bags (57,446 items), shoes (53,992 items), and watches (3,274 items).

Representative Hong said, “As the resale market for limited edition shoes and luxury goods is rapidly growing, strengthened measures to eradicate counterfeit products are necessary,” and added, “We must establish a fair trade order through enhanced crackdowns by increasing special judicial police, raising reward payments for reporting, and expanding online monitoring teams.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.