How to Tell If a Louis Vuitton Bag Is Real or Fake

Louis Vuitton bags have a high resale value due to their widespread popularity, making authenticity a hot topic. This is especially true with the growing popularity of imitations on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

What's more, the design quality of replica designer handbags is constantly improving, making it one of the most pressing issues confronting consumers in the pre-owned designer bag market. As a result, when looking for pre-owned designer bags, you must be especially vigilant.

Fortunately, authentic Louis Vuitton bags include a couple of different authenticity markers such as quality hardware, date codes, and more. This guide was created to provide a basic overview of these authenticators.

4 Ways to Assess the Authenticity of Louis Vuitton Bags

Louis Vuitton is widely regarded as the most counterfeited luxury brand. This makes it much more difficult to detect forgeries. More difficult, but not impossible. Use the following as a basic guide to determine whether an LV bag is genuine.

While we recommend keeping in mind that there are always exceptions to any authenticity guideline, here are some key authenticity markers to consider when determining whether or not your Louis Vuitton bag is the real deal.

1. Check the Hardware

The hardware on a genuine Louis Vuitton bag is made of metal brass and is heavy, as opposed to the painted gold plastic on counterfeit versions. Each metallic piece on an original is always engraved with a finely crafted, precise, and clean “Louis Vuitton” logo.

Zippers on authentic Louis Vuitton bags are made to slide easily and smoothly. If the zipper on the bag you're holding stops halfway or feels like it needs some "oiling," it's a forgery. Also, the zippers on genuine LV bags are always on the left side.

The hardware that links an item together (e.g, the handles or ring hooks) on a fake LV bag is often round in shape, whereas there is always a D-ring in an original LV bag. If the piece is square shaped, the edges are extremely smooth and do not have any sharp edges.

Overall, the hardware on fake Louis Vuitton bags will be of very poor quality.

2. Examine the Stamp Closely

Unlike other designer luxury bag brands that come with authentication cards, Louis Vuitton doesn't. Instead, on the side near a seam or on a piece of leather inside the bag, each bag is stamped with a date code (more on this later) and place of manufacture.

Take note of the fonts on the inside stamps; authentic Louis Vuitton bags carry the same font. Pay attention to the following:

• The Ts in Vuitton are so close together that they almost touch.
• The letter O in Vuitton is a perfectly rounded circle.
• The L's tail is extremely short. That is, the vertical line is longer than the horizontal line.

3. Review the Date Code

Since 1983, authentic Louis Vuitton bags have had a date code stamp with six characters that correspond to the location, date and sometimes factory where the bag was manufactured.

The first two characters of the code are usually letters representing the location where the LV bag was manufactured. The remaining four characters are numbers, which typically represent the year, month, and, since 2017, the week it was produced.

The Louis Vuitton code system can be confusing to those who are unfamiliar with it, so this is one area where counterfeiters make mistakes, and it may be the only thing that prevents you from paying a high price for a fake. The trick is to see if the code that represents the country of manufacture matches the country specified on the stamp's "Made in" section.

4. Look at the Logo Details

The LV logo is everywhere on authentic Louis Vuitton bags, including the hardware, and consistency plays a big part in how logo patterns are distributed all over each bag. For example, if a pattern begins with a half circle, it ends with the same circle. The same rule applies to the other elements of the LV logo.

Having said that, all of the major characteristics of each element of the logo remain unchanged. The classic LV monogram is always interlocked with the L slightly below the V, and there is always a four petal flower in a square or circle. There are no crooked geometric figures, or letters.

Owning a Real Louis Vuitton Bag

Although we have discussed some of the basic authenticity indicators of a genuine Louis Vuitton bag, you will need to consider other factors depending on the LV bag in question. Also, as time passes, the craftsmanship and materials used to make LV bags will differ slightly.

The best way to ensure that you are purchasing an authentic Louis Vuitton is to educate yourself on a regular basis, and to buy only from verified retail stores, or resellers.

Get in touch with us at Luxury Promise today for authentic pre-owned Louis Vuitton bags.