Juicy fakes are EVERYWHERE on ebay now. In fact, when I scan the auction listings, I almost see more fake bags than authentic bags. As a lover of Juicy Couture's products, I want to make sure that all ebay bidders are informed about Juicy bags and know what to look for. This is part one of my Juicy guide - ebay has limits on the length of guides, so I'm breaking it up into two parts.

Here are a few ways to avoid getting a fake bag:

1) I personally absolutely would not buy from anyone overseas, especially China and Hong Kong. Almost all of the fake bags I've seen come from sellers in these two places (although not all), so while an overseas seller is not a guarantee that the bag is fake, it's a lot more likely. And just because a seller is in the United States, it does not mean that their bags are necessarily real. This is just a jumping off point for me when I'm looking for bags.

2) Another easy way to tell is to look at the stitching on the 'J' hang tags on the mirror inside and the leather fob outside. Here's an example:

real: 
 

or, more recently:

fake:
 
 

Some fakes now have subtler differences in the fobs, or try to hide them in the pictures. In a fake bag, the J stitching on the inside mirror will also be off, so ask the seller for a close-up picture of the back of the mirror to check if one isn't displayed.

As you can see on these, just looking at the stitching quality of the parts can help you. the shape of the heart is also useful to check. Juicy's hearts are well-defined, coming in to a v shape where the fob connects to its leather strap. The fob is also thick and squishy-looking. Fakes are made of low-quality leather, so the fob will look flatter and the stitching will be of poor quality. Lately, Juicy bags have had more variable J shapes, so stitching quality is especially important to look for.

3) Look at the texture and quality of the leather. Juicy's leather is really nice - heavy, soft, and gorgeously textured. Fake bags look smooth and plasticky. Real cowhide leather is expensive. You can find really good deals on Juicy bags on ebay, but you have to look for them. If a price seems too good to be true, it probably is - especially a buy-it-now price.

4) Look at the inside, on the bottom where it says 'Love, P & G.' Real bags have a plain brown cotton material (same as the rest of the lining) that matches the color of the printed part of the lining. A lot of the fakes that I've seen have a felt-like material on the bottom instead, so it doesn't match the color of the printed lining exactly - it's usually a slightly warmer tone. Some newer Juicy bags also have different colored cotton lining - make sure all parts of the lining have the same base color. The new higher-priced Juicy bags have lavender satin lining. Juicy has also been changing their logo to 'Love, G & P.' Proctor and Gamble raised trademark issues regarding the old logo, so Juicy is phasing it out. While examining the lining, also check the material the inner pockets are made out of and look at the stitching on them. I've seen fakes that look good on the outside, but have cheap-looking and badly sewn inner pockets - a dead giveaway to someone who's looking at the details.

5) I've never seen Juicy wrap anything of theirs in plastic. Not the handles, not the bag's parts, not anything. They use tissue paper to wrap things like zippers and charms, not plastic. Anything with plastic-wrapped components is probably fake. It's possible that Juicy does wrap some things in plastic that I don't know about, but I've seen bags in their original factory packaging (before they're put out on the sales floor) and I've only ever seen paper wrappings. The only exception: there's a plastic lining on the inside mirror. New wallets will also have foam padding as well as tissue paper on the inside unless the seller has removed it.

6) This one is usually kind of hard if you don't have the bag sitting in front of you, but you can compare the engraving on the rivets of the bag to an authentic Juicy bag - the font/shape of the engravings will look wrong. It can be difficult to get the rivets to show up in pictures, but it's definitely something to check if you've received a bag and suspect it may be fake. If you suspect a fake, also check the inside Juicy label and compare it to an authentic one. A buyer recently sent me a question regarding the color of interior tags on Juicy bags; they're all pink.

7) There shouldn't be a rectangular tag saying 'Protect your J zipper,' like this one:

 
on an authentic bag. These tags are for hoodies and other clothing items with zippers on them, and contain washing instructions on how to prevent damage to the J zipper. The tags have nothing to do with bags, and Juicy doesn't put them on bags. If a bag is advertised as 'new with tags,' ask for a close-up picture of the tag with the barcode, price, and Juicy product name. Many fakes advertised as NWT only have the large Juicy hangtag (as seen in the corner of this picture) and possibly the protection tag. Fake Juicy tags ARE made, so an advertisement of tags should not influence your decision regarding a product's authenticity. This goes for clothing also, although hoodies will have the 'Protect your J zipper' tag. In my opinion, as of right now, getting a photo of an attached Juicy price tag is the best sign of authenticity you can get online. I have seen some poor imitations of Juicy's price tags, but I've never seen a good one. Make sure you know what the real tags look like, since counterfeiters seem to be attempting to create fake price tags. EDIT: I recently purchased a Juicy sweatsuit for a friend for Christmas on ebay, and although the suit had what appeared to be authentic tags (including a tag from a reputable retail website), the suit was fake. This transaction definitely made me more wary of purchasing Juicy clothing online - the authenticity of the clothing is more difficult to ascertain from photos than that of bags. Also be aware that Juicy uses gold tags with their logo and 'Choose Juicy' on one side, and the price/sizing/color information on the other. Here's an example of an authentic Juicy hangtag:

     

Juicy no longer puts the price information on the larger hangtags, like this:



Nor do they use the black tags that say 'Juicy Couture, Made in the Glamorous USA' on the back, although older styles may have these tags.

Although this guide relates to bags, here are a couple of tips on spotting fake Juicy clothing:

1) Check the zipper. The old style of Juicy zipper has the J hanging from a small loop (I've been looking for a photo online, but they're difficult to find - I believe it was last fall (fall 2004) that Juicy changed their zipper style. You'll find old-style J's on many popular older styles that are often faked, including the "Royalty" suits). Here's a picture of the new style J zipper:      and the old style:
                            
Any recent styles of jackets purchased should have the new zipper. I've seen many fake new jackets (especially the "Angel" suits) with the old style of zipper, so watch out for this one, although it may be difficult to see in photos.

2) Check the cut of the jacket and pants, and compare the cut to photos of authentic clothing. Fake pants are often cut smaller up near the waistline - Juicy pants are cut pretty straight through the hips and waist.

3) Juicy has color-coded size tags: pink for petite, orange for small, tan for medium, green for large, and blue for extra large. Make sure your tag corresponds to the right Juicy color. Much older Juicy has white labels with black text - these are rare to see on ebay, but occasionally someone will be selling an old used item with one of these tags. Until fall of 2005, items produced outside the United States, including the fur-lined hoodies and jackets and cashmere items, had different, broader Juicy labels with small size indicators that hang down from banner tag. All of these labels were pink. After fall of 2005, Juicy changed their import labels to corresponding colors, but instead of saying 'Made in the Glamourous USA' they say 'Made with love, P & G.' In addition, all of the Juicy fur-trim hoodies I've seen on ebay are fake. If you're interested in purchasing Juicy fur on ebay, do it with caution. The only authentic Juicy fur hoodie that I've ever seen is the fur-lined hoodie with fur lining the hood and bodice (making a fur vest inside the hoodie). If anyone has ever seen an authentic fur-trim hoodie (NOT with the full vest lining, but with a removable trim) in a retail store, please let me know.

4) All Juicy items are sold as separates. As such, if you purchase a suit, both pieces should have tags, including price tags.

5) Be aware of fabric. Juicy velour is made of 80 percent cotton, 20 percent polyester. Older fleece is made of 100 percent cotton; newer fleece is 99 percent cotton, 1 percent polyester. Fleece is never 80 percent cotton, 20 percent polyester! If the seller says it is, it's fake. You can also check websites of authorized Juicy retailers to check the fabric makeup of particular items.

This is definitely not a comprehensive list of information about clothing, just a few things that I have noticed over my years of looking at Juicy on ebay.

Thank you for reading my guide! Please read part two to get the rest of my tips. Also, due to the fact that I receive a large volume of questions regarding authenticity of specific items as well as general questions about Juicy, I may not be able to respond to all questions. As other busy people, I appreciate your understanding! -Graciemaple