Luxury Retailer Neiman Marcus Plays the Imitation Game – At Its Own Risk

Back in 2009, luxury department stores began to scramble to find a solution to plummeting sales, and that solution came in the form of the outlet store. For decades, Nordstrom has enjoyed considerable success from its Rack stores, so why couldn’t Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus do the same?

Well for one thing, many of the luxury brands that sell in these stores don’t like the idea of being sold off at a discount in an outlet store.

In fact many vendors have strict rules about how and when their merchandise is marked down and merchandised – that is, if you’re a brand that has the cachet and critical mass to make stores do your bidding. Look who has the biggest real estate on the sales floor and that will give you an idea of who we’re talking about.

Apparently that hasn’t stopped Neiman Marcus from dabbling in what we would consider very risky behavior, and it’s happening at their “off price” stores called Last Call.

Here, you’ll see some familiar name brands – Diane Von Furstenberg, Chloe, and Helmut Lang, to name a few — but chances are none of that product ever saw the light of an actual Neiman Marcus store. That’s because most of it is either bought or produced exclusively for the outlet stores.

But what happens when some of that merchandise starts to masquerade as the actual prestige pieces sold at Neiman Marcus – and features a Neiman Marcus label?

At top, some imitation Valentino clutches, below, an imitation Celine Luggage Tote, both on display at Neiman Marcus Last Call in San Francisco.

That’s what we discovered on a couple of visits to the Last Call store in San Francisco, where we saw flagrant imitations of current season Valentino wallets, featuring camouflage and gold studs, merchandised next to actual Valentino neckties.

A sign, standing ambiguously between the two displays, said simply “Valentino.” It appears that Neiman Marcus is taking advantage of customer confusion since they are well-known for carrying authentic luxury brands and products in their full price stores. In all likelihood many who shop at Last Call do so believing that most (if not all) of the products are sale items from those stores.

But wait! Is that the iconic Celine Luggage Tote?

I asked a sales associate who was tidying the area. “No, it’s not – but it looks like one, doesn’t it?” he replied. “So then this isn’t a real Valentino wallet either?” Nope.

So what gives? How does Neiman Marcus get away with it and why haven’t Celine or Valentino reps been in touch with them?

At top, Neiman Marcus has used its own private label to manufacture a knockoff of Celine’s famous Luggage Tote, seen here on the retailer’s website. Below, an actual Celine tote. 

As it turns out, one luxury brand has – one with a very large flagship store only two blocks away and they’re not happy about the imitation products.  They’ve been in touch and demanded that Last Call remove the offending product. It should be noted that this luxury brand also sells its collections in full price Neiman Marcus stores.

But when we stopped into the store today, months after seeing the faked bags and accessories in the store, there they were again, and that fake Celine bag? It’s now also for sale on Last Call’s website.

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