Spot The Difference: The Fake and Authentic Longchamp Le Pliage

Not too long ago, I bought a (supposedly) authentic Longchamp (LC) Le Pliage from an eBay seller but it turned out, it's actually fake. You may read all about it here. On this post, I will visually share the difference between the authentic LC Le Pliage that I bought from Rustan's Makati and the fake one that the eBay seller sent.

 {This is the authentic LC Le Pliage Medium Short Handle (MSH) in Blanc that I purchased from Rustan's Makati. It comes in a complete set with care card, yellow sticker and paper bag.}

I later found out that the yellow sticker tag is one of the best indications that the bag came from the manufacturer, is authentic and legally distributed.

Now, let us enumerate the difference of the two. To do this, we photographed an LC Le Pliage MSH in Blanc (authentic) and LC Le Pliage MSH in Cyclamen (fake). At the end of this post, you'll probably understand why a lot of people (especially first-time owners of LC handbags) are being deceived by some selfish eBay online sellers.

{The authentic LC Le Pliage}

{The fake LC Le Pliage}

{When folded...}

The photos above show that both can be folded neatly and laid flat.

 {Comparing the sizes}

They are about the same size, too. But if you'll look closely, you'll notice that there is a big difference when it comes to the leather materials used.

 {Leather flaps}

The authentic LC bag's leather material has rich tan color, with a red/orange undertone. The leather is slightly rough but still smooth to the touch. The fake LC has almost the same shade of leather material. Looking closely, both leathers have subtle uneven color finishing with light and dark patches. But, it is very noticeable that the leather pattern of the authentic LC has defined diamond patterns. This is not evident on the fake LC. In fact, the pattern on the fake LC almost looks like fish-scale and is very smooth to the touch.

{Closer look of the leather flaps and gold snaps}

The photo above clearly shows the difference between the leather material used for the fake and authentic LC bags. The front gold snaps used are almost the same, too. It reads “LONGCHAMP” and “1948” with a jockey logo at the center. You can also see that the hot-stamped jockey logo is more apparent on the authentic LC.

{Backside of the leather flaps and gold snaps}

The color of the back of the leather is beige with really small hair (almost smooth). The difference is that the indented stamp of the jockey logo is evident on the authentic LC while there is no trace of it on the fake LC. Both have gold snaps that read “ORIGINAL PRYM 6/4B”. 

{The handles}

The diamond pattern is still apparent on the handles of the authentic LC while the handle of the fake LC is very smooth to the touch. You'll also notice that color of the stitching is almost the same.

{Side view of the handles: authentic LC (top) and fake LC (bottom)}

On the photo above, the authentic LC has perfectly flat handles while the fake LC has slightly rounded handles.

 {Big difference of hot stamp at the back}

The hot-stamped words at the back of the authentic LC is perfectly spaced, no misspelled words or incorrect accent. It reads "LONGCHAMP" on the first line and "LE PLIAGE TYPE “M” – MODÈLE DÉPOSÉ" on the second line. The fake LC has incorrect accent on the first E of the word "DEPOSE" (encircled on the photo above).

 {Difference on stitching.}

The authentic LC has flawless stitching while the fake one was sewn poorly. An example of how poorly it was made can be seen above (encircled).

The following photos show how the fake LC closely resembles the authentic LC. To the untrained eyes, it can be said that there is no difference.

{The "LONGCHAMP", "1948" and jockey logo on the zipper pull}

{The "45" on the zipper pull}

{The "YKK" and "T" on the zipper pull}

{The protective disk on the snaps}

The one thing that the fake ones can't have-- the correct serial number and codes of the authentic LC hand bags.

{The tags inside the bags}

I decided not to show the correct style code and serial number of my authentic LC Le Pliage to prevent further production of counterfeit bags. The fake LC shows an incorrect style number and color code. You can also see that the nylon material used on the authentic LC has matte finish and it barely reflects light. This can't be said on the fake LC because it is very shiny, easily reflects the light and very smooth.

If you recently bought a LC hand bag online, please note all the red flags that are mentioned here and communicate with the seller. Everyone knows that it is illegal to sell counterfeit items especially on eBay.