LV denies claims shop sold fake bag to customer

Luis Vuitton is facing allegations that one of its stores in China sold a counterfeit copy of one of its bags to a customer.

The French luxury goods company has been ordered by a court in Changsha, Hunan province, to compensate the purchaser of the bag, reported to be one of its iconic Vaugirard range. The customer paid 22,350 renminbi (around $3,350) for the bag and a small accessory, according to a report in WWD.

LV was ordered to pay three times the amount in compensation to the buyer, but has appealed the decision and denies the bag was fake. The complainant says they had an independent assessment which concluded that it was counterfeit.

There has been speculation in the press that an LV employee may have introduced the bag into the store inventory unbeknownst to the company, or that the purchaser may have swapped the bag for a counterfeit after it was bought.