Chanel, Coach, Burberry, and Gucci items line the walls of Chinatown stores with flimsy paper tags marked way down compared to the prices in boutiques. Louis Vuitton key chains, wallets, purses, suitcases, and duffels – you name it and its there. These fake products may be cheap and all, but do you really know what you are supporting? Somewhere over in China, a young child who ought to be in school sits through long hours in a hot and sweaty room, sewing fake designer labels onto fake designer bags. That bag that may look like a “real Chanel tote” is nothing but a part of child labor. That meager $40 you spend on a bag shouldn’t satisfy you. The fact that that $40 is supporting forced child labor in poor countries is what should satisfy you.

Both Houses of Congress passed The Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act in 2005, but that does not stop what goes on outside our country. China, a main supplier of fake goods, will continue trafficking their goods through organized black markets. Fake items have become such a big part of our lives now – how many of you don’t expect to see a knock-off bag in Chinatown? – that we have all come to ignore its abusive roots.

Piracy has become a big issue in the United States, as even local strip malls have been seen carrying shelves of knock-off designers. In a case of a Target in Largo, Florida, vs. leather goods manufacturer Coach Inc., Coach sued the Target Corporation for selling counterfeit bags made of fabric similar to Coach’s own fabric with the signature “C” logo.

In another case, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton sued Wal-mart Stores Inc. for selling counterfeit Fendi bags for $508.25. The genuine bag regularly retails for $930.

Knock-off products annoy me. Sure, it may be a great discount buying a handbag or wallet for under 70 percent off department store prices, but it is just not the same. The quality is different, the material is different; it is a completely fake bag. Handcrafted, sure, but by a poor enslaved person! How can I possibly feel good about buying a cheap product if I know that some unfortunate souls have slaved over that very piece of merchandise between my fingertips?

All I have to say is this you can either spend a couple hundred dollars on the genuine thing, which gives you the right to show off that receipt to everyone, or you can buy a knock-off product and support forced child labor around the world. It’s your choice, and there’s only your conscious watching.