A luxury bag expert has revealed the simple trick you need to know to spot a fake Louis Vuitton handbag – and you’ll have to double-check every purchase.
The information was shared per brand Luxury Collective in posted a video to their TikTok page last month.
Luxe Collective, based in Great Britain, sells second-hand luxury items from luxury brands such as Chanel, Goyard, Hermès and of course Louis Vuitton.
Unfortunately, these designs often fall victim to counterfeits, but with this trick you will know in no time whether your bag is real or not if you bought it second-hand.
For example, Luxe Collective co-founder Ben Gallagher used the brand’s $2,570 Pochette Métis wallet.
Ben Gallagher, co-founder of luxury resale brand Luxe Collective, has revealed the simple trick you need to know to spot a fake Louis Vuitton bag
Luxe Collective, based in Britain, sells second-hand luxury items from luxury brands such as Chanel, Goyard, Hermès and of course Louis Vuitton – but many of these designs often fall victim to counterfeits
“If you open the zipper pocket on the back, you’ll find a date code inside,” Gallagher explains.
“The code should consist of two to three letters followed by four numbers,” he continued.
Gallagher said the letters are representative of the factory location and that on models made before 2007, the first and third digits represent the month the bag was made.
The second and fourth numbers refer to the year in which the bag was made, says the co-founder.
On bags made after 2007, the first and third digits represent the week, not the month.
When inspecting your bag, it is therefore very important to pay attention to the date code.
“If your bag has a date code that doesn’t exist, such as the 60th week of 2027, then it was clearly made by a fake manufacturer that doesn’t understand the date code system,” Gallagher revealed.
However, Gallagher said it was important to note that Louis Vuitton bags made after 2021 have a so-called NFC chip instead of a date code. So this rule only applies to bags made before that year.
Gallagher said the letters are representative of the factory location and that on models made before 2007, the first and third digits represent the month the bag was made.
On bags made after 2007, the first and third digits represent the week, not the month
In the comments section of the post, many viewers were impressed by the helpful tip.
“From now on I will be looking at everyone’s LV…Ladies, take care,” one person wrote.
Another agreed: ‘Louis Vuitton training 101 – this reminds me of my Sloane Street days.’
However, others pointed out that a correct date code could easily be copied onto counterfeit bags.
‘Do you think codes can’t be real codes on a fake bag? They only need one real code,” someone typed.
Another added: “Code can be duplicated. NFC can be duplicated.”