Welcome to the golden era of dupes! In a world where luxury has become an aspirational pursuit, TikTok is serving us a delicious buffet of irony and sarcasm.
Say goodbye to the days when owning the latest GUCCI belt was a must-have status symbol. Today, it’s all about finding the perfect dupe and flaunting it with a wink and a nod.
At the heart of this fascinating trend is the dupe mindset – a cheeky, yet self-aware perspective on the luxury industry. Strolling through Target or Walmart, it’s hard not to notice the uncanny resemblance of certain items to their high-end counterparts. But the dupe mindset isn’t just about finding knockoffs; it’s about embracing the humor and irony in chasing after a carefully curated lifestyle on a budget.
It seems that Gen Z has shifted the narrative around knockoffs and luxury.
TikTok has played a vital role in transforming the concept of dupes from a taboo into a viral sensation. With hashtags like #reps, #dupe, and #tiktokmademebuyit racking up billions of views, it seems that Gen Z has shifted the narrative around knockoffs and luxury. Today, finding the perfect dupe is no longer a guilty secret, but rather a fun and exciting challenge.
But why the sudden love for dupes? It could be the result of inflation, a decline in production quality, or simply a new generation of cash-strapped teens with an unquenchable thirst for high-end living. Whatever the reason, the hunt for the perfect dupe has become a profitable game for content creators and a source of endless entertainment for their audiences.
In a delightful twist of irony, influencers are now creating “dupe” content by mimicking each other’s videos.
What’s even more interesting is how the meaning of the word “dupe” has evolved in the age of TikTok. Once a term reserved for near-identical knockoffs, it has now come to represent anything that remotely resembles its luxurious counterpart. And in a delightful twist of irony, influencers are now creating “dupe” content by mimicking each other’s videos.
The dupe mindset is a brilliant example of how social media can mock and challenge our perceptions of luxury and status. It goes beyond mere product comparisons, highlighting the absurdity of our constant quest for social validation. In a world where FENDI sunglasses and PRADA totes are reduced to mere punchlines, it seems that the dupe mindset has truly turned the luxury industry on its head.
So, the next time you spot a fabulous dupe on TikTok, remember to laugh along and embrace the irony. After all, it’s not every day that you can snag a slice of luxury on a Walmart budget – even if it’s just a clever imitation. Happy duping!
A scandal involving two HERMÈS – obsessed creators over counterfeit Birkin bags has led TikToker BirkinTrash to fess up and prepare for his ‘first cancellation’.
TikTok creator the HERMÈS Slayer exposed prominent TikToker BirkinTrash of re-selling counterfeit Birkins. Embarrassed luxury re-sell brand Fashionphile was forced to announce it is ending its relationship with BirkinTrash amid the scandal. BirkinTrash was forced into a confession this week as he toasted to his “first cancellation.”
BirkinTrash, aka Alex Pardoe, shows off a bag, and toasts to his cancellation.
A swath of TikTok is currently consumed by a controversy involving Birkin handbags – arguably the most expensive purses on earth, which are vended by the French luxury house Hermès, and cannot be purchased at will but by appointment.
The bags start at $9,000 when purchased in-store, per Sotheby’s, but are valued at multiples of that figure on the secondhand market — with rarer configurations in exotic animal skins re-selling for as much as six figures.
The drama kicked off when the Birkin whistleblower account on Instagram, The Fake Birkin Slayer, accused prominent TikToker @BirkinTrash of attempting to re-sell several fake Birkin bags earlier this week. @BirkinTrash, aka Alex Pardoe, a man who has amassed 212,000 followers on TikTok largely on the strength of his HERMÈS obsession, has since come out with a public confession.
In a TikTok he posted last week, Pardoe claimed he has happened upon fake Birkins over the ten years he’s been collecting them and has “tried to get rid of” the dupes. He added that he’s taken those questionable listings down.
Still, the accusations and admissions have sent a corner of TikTok that’s obsessed with following Hermès handbag content into a tailspin this week. Many are shocked, and continue to side-eye the creator despite his confession. A major luxury resellerannounced it has cancelled its partnership with Pardoe “after becoming aware of his statement regarding selling counterfeit bags.”
The Fake Birkin Slayer account, which has amassed 23,000 followers in a week, told Insider it’s important to them to out this behavior on social media because against the law.
“Counterfeiting funds many dark things,” an account holder, who wished to remain anonymous, said over Instagram DM. They added that the page was founded by a group who “have all been defrauded buying bags that were represented to be real.”
The popular Birkin TikToker BirkinTrash at the center of the scandal.
In a series of Instagram Stories shared on Monday, The Fake Birkin Slayer posted screenshots of several Birkin sale listings that it said were being offered by Pardoe on the mobile marketplace OfferUp. The listings included a red ostrich HERMÈS Birkin for $1,000 and a black HERMÈS crocodile bag for $5,000, which The Fake Birkin Slayer cross-referenced with bags Pardoe had showcased in his closet in a previous TikTok.
According to The Fake Birkin Slayer, Pardoe alluded in his listings that he was selling counterfeits, but even trying to sell them is a major no-no in the high end designer world.
Pardoe answered The Fake Birkin Slayer’s allegations soon after, confirming that he has listed fake Birkins for sale in the past.
“Selling counterfeits is illegal,” The Fake Birkin Slayer said to the pre. “Especially when you’ve crafted a persona that is quoted in magazines and allegedly sponsored by entities such as Fashionphile.”
Pardoe answered The Fake Birkin Slayer’s allegations soon after, confirming that he has listed fake Birkins for sale in the past, but then took down the listings a day later and donated them after having a “weird” feeling.
“In the 10 years that I’ve been collecting Hermès pieces — mostly preloved, up until a couple years ago — I have been sold non-authentic pieces. And that was my fault, ” he said in his TikTok confession that has 261,000 views. “I didn’t do my due diligence.”
Pardoe said that when he’s received fake bags in the past, he’s sought to “get rid of them,” despite the fact that he disagrees with the practice and its associations with “forced labor.” He then claimed he donated all of his counterfeits.
Pardoe did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Birkin fans on TikTok are undecided if the creator should be “cancelled”
Alex Pardoe BirkinTrash is a hairdresser by trade
While some TikTokers condemned Pardoe for his lack of integrity, with the TikToker @verifiedbluecheckmarc noting that the screenshots appeared to suggest that the listings were up for two months, others seemed confounded by the inanity of the saga.
“People are getting cancelled over handbags,” one commenter wrote. “I’m so done.”
As the drama unfolded publicly, fashion brand Fashionphile removed all recent content featuring Pardoe from its page. A representative for the company told Insider that it’s ceasing its partnership with him, as Fashionphile is built on “trust” and “authenticity.”
“As a luxury resale company built on consumer trust, authentication is the foundation of Fashionphile’s business,” the company said in a statement on Thursday. “We recently partnered with Alex Pardoe but have since removed the content after becoming aware of his statement regarding selling counterfeit bags on OfferUp. We would never knowingly be involved in any partnerships that compromise our values or question our integrity.”
But Pardoe appears to be taking the controversy in stride. “Alright ya’ll,” he said, holding a cocktail with some friends in a swimming pool in his most recent TikTok post. “Cheers to my first cancellation.”
