Egyptian Branding

Living in Egypt renders the possibility of finding cheap products almost endless. Whether you are looking for a knock off pair of oakleys, to faux designer purses, the markets and soukhs scattered throughout Cairo are sure to fulfill your needs

For someone like me who likes to shop on a budget, it's perfect. Of course I have learned the hard way that sacrificing price generally requires accepting your lower quality product, but hey if I'm only talking about ship ships (flip flops) that I will wear around the house, do I really need an 80 LE pair? No, the 18 LE pairs readily available from places like the Grand Mall do just fine.

It was however, with this in mind, that I was discussing with a friend the other day about the knock off's available on the market. Perhaps the most noticeable would be "designer" brands such as Gucci, or rather, Gucy/Guccy/Guci, etc, or as I recently saw, Dolce and Gabbana shoes with the "D" reversed (lol). Now, when it comes to purses and accessories and such, I don't mind the knock offs. They look great, and most of the time it's small things that would indicate it's a fake...which generally you have to be searching for. My "Chanel" purse has lasted for two years now, and still going strong.

There are however, Egyptian knock offs that cannot be mistaken as anything but. My favourite (aside from the variety of alcohol wannabes like Johnny Walking, or Red Labal, or Finelandia - lets not wake up blind please) woud be the painted on "chevy" or "toyotas" on the sides of cars, or the infamous "Abibas." Yes, that's right, it's not a typo...It's "Abibas."Generally you would witness Abibas worn by the poorer Egyptians, and to even suggest to a wealthier person here that they may wear Abibas is a mortal insult :p. It got me thinking though, in the West those who wear designer items are marked as the 'social elite,' and flaunt their designer wear so everybody knows that they can afford a 500 dollar pair of jeans. In Egypt, can the same be said for knock offs? Are we isolating ourselves as "cheap" when we chose the "fanel" over the "Chanel?"

Thought for the day...hmmm.