The Face of Fakes: U.S. Consumers and Counterfeit Fashion Products

Karen E. Edwards, Jason M. Carpenter
(Department of Retailing, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA)

Abstract: Counterfeit products pose a serious threat to fashion product brand owners and to the world economy. While research on the demand side of counterfeiting has grown over the past two decades, few extant studies have been conducted among non-student consumers outside Asia and Europe and few studies have focused on product categories other than consumer electronic-related items. Using a sample of U.S. consumers (N = 305), the current research investigates consumer attitudes in the context of fashion products. Findings suggest that gender and education are the two variables most frequently related to purchase intention for counterfeits, beliefs about counterfeit products, and ethicality. In addition, age appears to affect consumer stance on the social cost of counterfeiting, and education is related to anti-big business attitudes. In contrast, income does not appear to be related to any of the focal variables examined in the study.

Key words: counterfeit products; consumer behavior; retailing; United States; law

JEL code: M390