A study of the consumer behaviour of Hong Kong people on counterfeit brand clothing and accessories

Clothing counterfeiting is not a new issue in Hong Kong. Recently, the situation has become more rampant since buying counterfeit brand clothing and accessories is becoming a trend in Hong Kong. The large demand for "fakes" from consumers has encouraged the counterfeiters to invest more in counterfeit manufacturing, which has worsened the situation in turn. A study was carried out to study the consumer behaviour of Hong Kong people on purchasing countering brand clothing and accessories. In addition, their attitudes towards counterfeit buying and law imposing on consumers were studied. The results revealed that people aged 31 or above were more likely to purchasing counterfeit clothing and accessories. Less educated people and people from Mainland China were more likely to be attracted to purchasing counterfeit clothing and accessories. The major reasons were that these consumers were attracted by the considerable lower prices of quality counterfeits and the abundant supply of counterfeits in Hong Kong. Most of the people disagreed with the law imposing on penalising the counterfeit consumers although they were aware that purchasing counterfeits had negative effects on the society. In the light of the findings, recommendations were made to discourage consumers from purchasing counterfeits. To this end, cutting the supply of counterfeits, educating the general public about the knowledge of distinguishing counterfeits and the negative effects counterfeits have caused to the society proved to be two of the effective measures.