fakes are pretty good these days and often, it's only with some wear and tear that you can tell the difference - ever see a grocery store full of women with fake vuitton purses that have the trim, piping and handles falling apart or faded monogram? think they're real? with lv monogram, the monogram mirrors itself on each side of the purse and the LV will never be on a seam so that the LV in the monogram is never split, the rest of the pattern can be but never the LV usually the key giveaway is the craftsmanship especially with the handle, which is the hardest to imitate as the handle takes the longest to make, and the hardware, which is all stamped with louis vuitton on it (even the purses that have small brass rivets have louis vuitton stamped on them) whereas a lot of fakes don't take the time to do that and have blank ones - further, if there is a lock, it too is stamped and solid and heavy, most fakes either leave it off and leave a bare zipper or use cheap plated metal with an enamel coating that will wear off usually, depending on the purse, near the bottom there is a square or rectangle of leather sewn over the seam and on one side of the purse, it will be stamped 'louis vuitton made in france' on it stitching will be perfect throughout one of the biggest tip-offs for certain models is the bottom of the purse, which on most models is all leather whereas most fakes will put monogram canvas on the bottom instead to save money (this does depend on the model) other times you see a knock-off in a size that vuitton does not make (they usually have a mini, moyen and grand size to some of the purses but some only come in certain sizes yet you can see fakes in the sizes that aren't made in that size) last that i can think of is the leather on a real purse, although stark naked and pale when you buy it, will naturally darken over time you have to know the product and certain models to know the features and sizes particular to that purse in order to know if one is the real thing or a fake lastly, unless it was purchased from a vuitton store or a licensed vuitton carrier (neiman marcus, saks et al) it's a fake - i hear women all the time saying they bought a second at some outlet or some store that carries overruns - vuitton doesn't have seconds, if it's not perfect, it's destroyed, and they can't make enough to meet demand so there's no overruns so bought from an insider either means a fake or someone is selling them out the backdoor at vuitton hope that the above helps
