Salvatore Ferragamo, the Italian fashion house, said it had blocked, seized or destroyed more than 100,000 fake products in a “fierce global battle against counterfeiting” focused on China and the internet.
In a rare public admission of the scale of the problem, the Florence-based luxury label said it intercepted and blocked the sale of about 90,000 counterfeit products from online auctions last year and seized and destroyed 10,000 more.
Men’s belts were the most commonly counterfeited item, a spokesperson said. Leather belts bearing the brand’s distinctive “double Gancini” metal buckle retail for between €250 and €1,500, although fakes were being offered for a fraction of this cost.