What do tariffs have to do with the luxury counterfeit trade?

From Lululemon tights to Hermès handbags, many TikTok users have been flooded over the past month with random videos of Chinese manufacturers offering popular luxury and fashion items at a fraction of the normal selling price. The idea being you buy “direct” from the source, hence bagging a bargain deal.

This spike comes in the wake of the Trump administration’s imposition of a 145% tariff on Chinese imports, significantly raising the cost of many goods, including luxury fashion. Targeted primarily at US consumers, such “deals” have been around for a while, but the recent surge in the videos likely stems from ongoing US-China trade tensions, and experts worry consumers are buying into it.

“As tariffs continue to be put onto items, the prices of luxury items, especially name brands, are going to make these items unaffordable to potential customers,” Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder and CEO of Entrupy, an AI-powered luxury authentication platform, told Retail Brew via email. “People are naturally going to start looking for cheaper alternatives, especially if they want the item. That’s where counterfeiters step in. Chinese factories are taking advantage of this opportunity by selling directly to US consumers, often on social media, skipping over traditional retailers and the tariffs altogether.”

While the luxury counterfeit industry has been growing at an unprecedented rate over the past few years, with high-quality, often indistinguishable dupes, Srinivasan says the problem lies in the fact that consumers lured into these deals often don’t know they’re buying a knockoff.

“You may have seen the recent viral videos from Chinese sellers claiming their items are made in the same factories as big-name brands like Lululemon or Louis Vuitton,” he said. “It sounds convincing—but it’s not true. What they’re really selling are counterfeits disguised as ‘factory-direct’ deals to lure in buyers.”

And TikTok is not the only platform counterfeiters are using to peddle dupes. The process has gotten rather sophisticated.

“Social media, especially Reddit, is where these customers are going to find dupes,” Brian Ehrig, partner in the consumer practice of Kearney, explained in an email. “The journey starts there and then moves to messaging apps, most likely WhatsApp. From there, they are having one-on-one conversations with factory representatives where these buyers are sharing exactly what item they want made. It’s quite a personalized experience.”

Shay Luo, partner in the strategic operations practice of Kearney, further added if anything, the accessibility to these products on multiple social media channels has probably made the global counterfeit trade—estimated at $449 billion in 2019—even more popular.

“The recent surge of this topic on social media can be attributed to a confluence of social (the rise of social media and influencer-driven buys), economic (inflationary market, low consumer buying confidence on high price tag products) and technological factors (live-stream shopping) that have created an environment conducive to the proliferation of fake products,” she said via email.

Clearly, it’s a problem. Add high tariffs and very convincing social media videos and you’ve got the perfect storm. Experts recommend that retailers continue to spread awareness along with investing in proper authentication processes and platforms. It may not solve the issue overnight but it definitely makes a dent in what’s looking to be a growing pain for both luxury and resale industries.

“For luxury brands, it chips away at exclusivity and weakens the brand’s perceived value,” Srinivasan said. “For resale platforms, it’s even harder—authenticity is their entire business model, and just a few fakes slipping through can damage trust. As more counterfeits flood the market, it becomes harder for everyone—buyers, sellers, and platforms—to know what’s real and feel confident in their purchases.”