The bustling city in the south of Italy is the starting point of the Italian counterfeiting market, which is estimated at 6 to 7 billion euros. There, the sale of fake bags, sunglasses, clothes and shoes flourishes, which are sold to customers who want to buy the "mint" at a low price, reports France 24.
"Which brand do you like? Which color, which model?" asks the persistent seller at the "counterfeit market" located in the back of the city near the city's central station. Men arrive with blue plastic bags full of Gucci baseball caps, Fendi wallets, Hermès belts and bright orange Louis Vuitton shoe boxes for sale on decrepit tables.
Counterfeiting is a global phenomenon, whether it is fake fashion, toys, electronics, food or medicine. The OECD estimates that counterfeits account for 2.5 percent of global trade. But Italy, home to the most luxury fashion brands, leads the EU in counterfeiting with a whopping 63 percent of total items seized in 2022, according to a November EU report.
And it is precisely in Naples that forgeries find unique fertile ground, giving it the title of the undisputed European capital of forgeries. The city is home to all stages of the fake fashion supply chain, from production and storage to distribution and sales. And all this is held by the local Camorra mafia. "Forgery is very important because it is a warning sign that signals a more dangerous crime," said Lt. Col. Giuseppe Evangelista, head of the Naples branch of Italy's Guardia di Finanza. Although less lucrative than selling drugs, counterfeit goods generate money, contribute to drug money laundering, and are relatively low-risk, as prison terms are much less than those for more serious crimes. "They don't have to look for clientele... tourists walk down the street, a bag is bought and it generates profit for the criminal organization," Evangelista told AFP.
Figures from the Ministry of the Interior show that between 2018 and 2022, police in Naples confiscated nearly 100 million items worth more than 470 million euros, which is about 14 percent of the value of all counterfeit goods seized in Italy. "In Naples, counterfeiting is a true parallel economic sector run by local and foreign mafias," a 2021 government report said. The city has even been called a "center of excellence" for counterfeiting. The artisanal heritage of tailors, an international port, high unemployment and an influx of cheap foreign labor contributed to a counterfeiting boom that could not be quelled because of the local population's long-standing tolerance for rule-breaking. /BGNES
Naples is the Italian capital of fake clothes
