Let us start with the fact that, officially, as of 03.12.2017 in Russia the name "Orenburg down shawl" may be used by only 2 organisations.
One of them is ours. The vast majority of websites sell counterfeit. It does not matter where you see them — at the top of search results, in advertising, etc. At the moment it is very difficult to stop the trade in illegal products by legal means. So such trade is only flourishing.
We decided to collect the main signs of such websites, because they cause serious damage to the real Orenburg down-knitting industry. The owners of these websites live for today, making money without investing anything in the development of the region or in the well-being of the people engaged in knitting and related work.
Signs of websites selling counterfeit:
The first and most important sign is coloured items with different shades mixed in one shawl. This is a clear sign that the item was brought from Asia. They have long since learned to make fakes of Orenburg shawls there. They are imported into the country illegally and cost 200–300 roubles. Such down items are supplied in large bales, in a pressed state. Many items are simply not washed and give off a strong animal smell. Because of the fast, poor-quality technology for producing the down yarn, the items will shed; they will not only be uncomfortable to wear, but will also quickly become unusable. All the shawls are knitted on knitting machines, which considerably speeds up production. In addition, such shawls are knitted even by children from the age of 10–12. Defects and flaws in such products are a constant phenomenon. There is nothing Orenburg about them. These shawls do not pass any quality control standards and may have serious negative consequences for the buyer's health.
Examples of such shawls:
The second, no less obvious sign is a low price. On fraudsters' websites, gossamer shawls and stoles are sold for 1,500–2,500 roubles (although at the moment such traders have become so brazen that they sell fakes for 5 and 7 thousand roubles). You may be lured with a huge discount, offered gifts in the form of a second shawl, cosmetics and so on. Do not fall for these tricks. A genuine handmade Orenburg down shawl, which takes 100 to 200 hours to knit, cannot cost that little. Think about it: would you work for 20 roubles an hour? And this is the work not just of a highly qualified craftsman, but the creativity of an artist.
It is another matter if the seller bought several pressed bags of mass-market goods at 250 roubles apiece. In that case all the gifts and pseudo-discounts are paid for by a huge markup on such goods. In such deception any means will do. Countdown timers for made-up promotions that never end, and enthusiastic reviews on the website from celebrities and ordinary buyers.
No legal details at all about the organisation. Or information about legal entities that ceased to exist long ago. You can check here https://egrul.nalog.ru/ You will never be able to hold the people who sold you the goods accountable if you did not like them, if they arrived in improper condition or torn, if completely different goods arrived, etc.
Reviews from celebritieswho supposedly bought goods from them — in the vast majority of cases this is a brazen lie.
Some vague physical addresses on the website. For example, “Saraktash District, such-and-such village”. It is not quite clear how shawls can be delivered from a village to Moscow on the day of the order.
Websites with counterfeit may not write “Orenburg down shawl” anywhere at all, but appear in advertising for this search query. Dear customers, please pay attention to this. Many use wording such as “Legendary shawl”, “Down shawl” etc. Or they may use misleading wording such as “shawls of the Orenburg land”, etc. — this is a violation of the law.
No possibility to pay in different ways. Usually payment is possible either to a Sberbank card, or cash on delivery, electronic money and other similar methods. But there is no, for example, internet acquiring — that is, the ability to pay by card right after placing the order on the website, because this requires linking a legal entity to the website and publishing full information about it, which fraudsters cannot do without revealing themselves.
As a rule, the websites are one-pagers — all the goods are on the first page, to reduce development costs. There are no useful articles; on the website no work is being done at all. They do not tell you about production, about shawls; there is no detailed description of the craftswomen who create works of art, no videos with them. All this is missing for a simple reason — they simply do not have it. There is nothing to tell. At most there may be a few articles for show, but the section is not updated with new materials.
Dear customers, our regular clients, and people reading this article by chance or for information. If you just want to buy an item for your wardrobe, you can disregard all our recommendations and buy anywhere. But if you are looking for an item of folk art craft, made by hand using technologies established hundreds of years ago, if you want to feel the warmth of handwork and be warmed by genuine goat down, by all the positive emotions the craftswoman put into her work, if you want to see in your wardrobe not just another shawl but that very Orenburg down shawl — we strongly urge you to pay attention to this article and buy from trusted shops that work for the good of people, for the good of the Orenburg Region, and preserve centuries-old traditions.
