That cashmere coat you plan to wear for tonight's dinner might actually be made out of rat fur!
Yes, you read that right. Italian police seized over a million fake cashmere clothes that had rat fur and arrested 14 Chinese suspects from Rome and Livorno, Monday.
The arrests were made after a year-long investigation of five firms in Rome run by Chinese origin people. According to the Italian news agency ANSA, the cashmere clothes were made of acrylic, viscose and fur from rats and other animals. This means that the clothes were made of everything but cashmere.
Apart from cashmere, the authorities also seized fake merino lamb, silk and pashmina dresses, reports BBC.
It is not that the rat fur is never used in clothing. Designers have used bayou water rat fur in their clothing lines. Few years back, Billy Reid, an Alabama-based designer made evening capes, hats and collars using a bayou water rat fur. Previously, high-end fashion companies such as Yves St Laurent and Jacques Fath created hats made of the water rat fur.
Chinese products are known to be counterfeits of genuine and legitimate items sold worldwide. Want China Times, a Taiwan-based news site, reported that fake goods were preferred by rural people. Furthermore, it reported people in rural areas did not have any "choice" but "to accept" counterfeit and defective goods.
And this reputation has made consumers worldwide wary of Chinese products. According to the Arab News, buyers in Saudi Arabia are put off by the 'Made in China' tag, on popular brands because they doubt the authenticity of the products.
