THE FAKE LONGCHAMP CARE CARDS

Welcome to the second installment of Be your own Lonchamp Connoiseur entries.

I promised in my first installment that I shall post comparison pics of the alleged "Fake China-Made" Longchamp Large Long Handle Le Pliage in Bilberry and my Le Pliages. Also, I have decided to talk about CARE CARDS in this entry since I forgot to include it in my previous post.

In its essence, Care Cards contain ways to protect and clean your Le Pliage. This is a very important thing to look for in a Le Pliage, or any Le Pliage series in general because this is a telltale sign that the Le Pliage is 200% authentic.

However, some fake class AAAAAAA Le Pliages may come with Care Cards. Don't feel assured because the guarantee of authenticity lies in the littlest details: The grammar, translation, and word spelling on the care card. In this entry, I shall thoroughly inspect the Care Cards of the Bilberry Le Pliage, and compare it with the Care Card of my France- made Old Rose Le Pliage.

So let us now compare the Bilberry Le Pliage (Made in China) with my Navy Le Pliage (Made in France) and Black Le Pliage (Made in China).

To better understand what the pictures mean, please read my FIRST INSTALLMENT of the Longchamp entries.

LONGCHAMP LARGE LONG HANDLE LE PLIAGE IN BILBERRY

Glossy and lightweight material of the bag: a common material quality present in China- made Le Pliages.

This is the inner tag of the Bilberry Large Long Handle Le Pliage. Proudly Made in China. :)

Here's a pic of the inner part of the flap. The person told me that the leather is not textured compared to her Le Pliage. Notice that the inner flap part is very smooth, and almost suede in texture, appearance, and quality. It may have differed from the other inner flaps manufactured over the years, but you should bear in mind that a lot of new features have been introduced over the years in Le Pliage bags. And again, I would like to reiterate that NO TWO LEATHERS ARE ALIKE. You should only remember four things in identifying real leather on Le Pliage bags: tan brown, soft, flexible, smooth.

Button closures, "ORIGINAL PRYM" words and Jockey embossed on the buttons.

Zipper pulls. The gold tone of the China- Made Le Pliage is lighter as compared to the French- made Le Pliage.

The YKK trademark on the zipper

Transparent white discs inside the Le Pliages.

The Cowhide leather handles. In my observation, the recent handles bear spots. These possibly came from the bovine's natural skin markings. But nevertheless, the handles are the same in color: Tan Brown.

The stitching and stitch markings.

The 3 accents on the letter Es of the word "MODELE DEPOSE".

Comparing the back part of the flap. Oops! Cropped the pics too much. Please click on the picture to have a better view.

Comparing the inner pockets

So what's my verdict? The Bilberry Le Pliage is without a doubt, AUTHENTIC.

Moving forward.

Let us now know how to spot an authentic Longchamp with the help of Care Cards. In the following pics, I have used Care Cards from my Old Rose Le Pliage (Made in France) and Bilberry Le Pliage (Made in China).

The differences with the care cards are the following:

BOLDNESS OF THE LETTERS

- The color of the letters on the outer part of the care card of the French- made Le Pliage is more vivid as compared to the China- made counterpart. This resulted from the printing and ink used. However, the color of the letters on the inner part of the care card of the China- made Le Pliage is bolder as compared to the French- made counterpart.

PAPER QUALITY

- The French- Made Le Pliage's Care Card is printed using thicker and glossier paper, while the China- made Care Card is printed using thin and semi- matte paper.