MILAN (Reuters), – Salvatore Ferragamo, an Italian luxury brand, and Amazon (NASDAQ) claimed Tuesday that counterfeit goods were seized by Chinese authorities in Zheijang Province. This was in response to a worldwide investigation where the two companies cooperated.

Chinese officials raided the warehouse and seized hundreds of fake Ferragamo Gancini belts and buckles. This was in response to the producer trying to make them available on Amazon.

Ferragamo’s best-known accessory is the belt. Its link-shaped buckle, which Ferragamo uses as a brand logo on many of its products, sells for more than 300 euro ($320.61).

Amazon and Ferragamo filed jointly two U.S. lawsuits against the manufacturers that allegedly misled customers regarding the authenticity of their products.

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the world’s trade in counterfeit products is estimated at $464 billion. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development also stated that ecommerce boom in 2020-21 has led to significant growth in online counterfeit product supply.

Industry experts agree that counterfeits can have negative consequences on brand sales, reputation and safety. They also pose safety concerns for unregulated products and may tie counterfeiting to organised crime.

Ferragamo has been waging a wider campaign against counterfeiting by removing more than 22,000 profiles and products on social media and listing over 130,000 items on its online shop.

Amazon has made it clear that counterfeit goods cannot be sold through its website. In 2020, more than 700 million dollars was spent to stop this happening. Amazon has created a Counterfeit Crimes Unit that works with the authorities.

($1 = 0.9357 euros)