Chinese authorities have seized hundreds of counterfeit belts bearing the Salvatore Ferragamo brand with the aid of Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit (CCU).
The belt is one of Ferragamo’s most known accessories – its link-shaped buckle is used by the brand as a logo for many other products – and it sells for more than US$320.
The investigation was part of a worldwide probe by Amazon and Ferragamo in identifying bad actors who are trying to sell fake products. Amazon bans the sale of fake goods on its platform globally and in 2020 invested more than $700 million to reduce the incidence of it happening.
The two companies reported the fake vendor to the Market Supervision and Administration (MSA) authority in Yiwu City, located in China’s Zhejiang Province.
MSA and CCU said they subsequently seized hundreds of counterfeit belts and buckle accessories which may have been sold throughout retail channels around the world.
Both companies say they will continue to focus on law enforcement and preventing counterfeit products from entering the global supply chain.
“This should serve as a reminder that bad actors will be held accountable, as Amazon collaborates with both brands and law enforcement agencies around the world to stop inauthentic products from being sold across the retail industry,” said Kebharu Smith, head of Amazon’s CCU.
Salvatore Ferragamo last year ran a series of offline and online anti-counterfeiting measures to protect its customers and its brand, removing more than 22,000 products and profiles on social media platforms and over 130,000 product listings on online shops.
In February last year Amazon and Ferragamo jointly filed two lawsuits in the US against manufacturers who had allegedly used Ferragamo’s registered trademarks to deceive customers over the authenticity of the products.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has estimated the global trade in counterfeit products was worth as much as $464 billion in 2019 and said a boom in e-commerce in 2020-21 led to massive growth in the supply of counterfeit goods online.
- Additional reporting by Reuters.
