Dooney and Bourke handbags were once a staple of American quality and fashion, but like many other fashion designers, they went the way of cheaper manufacturing through Chinese labor. And this can create a lot of confusion for the buyer. The buyer buys a Dooney handbag, takes it home, throws it over her shoulder and it looks great! Then she peaks inside and starts playing around with the interior zippers etc, and stumbles across a tiny tag that says those three little words: Made in China. What? Dooney is supposedly to be made in the USA, right? The buyer then starts to panic, assuming she had been duped by a phony handbag. But in fact, it is an authentic Dooney, and it was made in China.

So for the record, a D & B that says made in China does not mean it is a fake handbag. Many of the newer bags are manufactured in China. However, vintage D & B handbags should all say made in the USA. Coach has also made this change from the USA to China.

What about the fakes?

After checking where the handbag was made, check the piping. The piping refer to the round edges of the handbag, and this feature will be a high quality leather. The stitch lines associated with the piping will also be high quality. There should be no crooked or uneven stitch lines along the rim of the piping leather. Any evidence of sloppy and rushed stitch lines resulting in wobbly or asymmetric seams is a major red flag.

Always check the hardware. Dooney & Bourke utilizes a high quality brass for all their metal accents. A good way to inspect the hardware for authentic or phony brass is to look closely for evidence of silver areas. This would represent nickel in many cases. This is a cheap metal used by counterfeiters that is colored to look like brass and replicate the authentic brass that Dooney would implement. Authentic brass will have an aged look, and the phony brass will have a shiny, superficially cheap appearance.

These are some quick steps you can take to weed out some of the fakes, and is not a complete guide to all tips necessary, but it will provide some insulation from many of the phonies in the viral marketplace. Good luck and safe shopping!