That’s the question visitors to Cape Town are asking themselves, once it occurs to them that the POLO store in the V&A waterfront is not owned by Ralph Lauren. We discussed this in a post last week, but let’s now consider the damage this does to OTHER shops and brands in the shopping centre.

Our original post, ‘Do People Still Think Polo SA Is Part Of Ralph Lauren?‘ can be read here.

I showed the POLO SA shop to a friend of mine from Europe and he was shocked to see it standing alongside the world’s most famous luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Mont Blanc, to name a few. My friend made a very good point, and something I hadn’t yet considered – for someone who doesn’t know Cape Town well, they could very easily get the impression that counterfeit goods and fakes are condoned and legally sold in Cape Town and South Africa. for all they know the V&A Waterfront is known for selling fakes. I mean, surely that is the case if you see POLO SA next to Louis Vuitton?

And yes we know – it’s all above board..

According to ifashion:

Ray James, legal advisor for Polo South Africa said: “We have an agreement with Ralph Lauren which gives us rights to the Polo brand. The pony in Africa faces the left and in Ralph Lauren Polo is faces the right.”

[more here]

So what? Foreigners don’t know the history surrounding SA POLO‘s license and trademark and whatever other ‘legitimate’ means allow them to sell a brand which is confusing the public as a whole. They (POLO SA) might claim they are not intentionally copying the overseas brand. But if it is not intentional, then why do so many people get confused? Why is the look and feel nearly identical? Why is the logo nearly identical? Why when Ralph Lauren starts using very large horses on their golf shirts for a season, does POLO SA follow? Only with the horse running the other way.

The guy on the left is wearing genuine Ralph Lauren Polo (horse runs left)
Our boy on the right is wearing POLO SA 

So the question any foreigner will ask themselves is, how many of these luxury stores in the V&A Waterfront are in fact counterfeit? Is the Gucci store really a Gucci store? Are the handbags genuine?

I remember many years ago the same issue came up for Sports Illustrated. The locally-owned and trademarked entity also had nothing to do with its internationally famous namesake. But after some time, when the local publishers wanted to add other international titles to their roster, they had to get a license to sell Sports Illustrated legitimately, as the new titles’ publishers were affiliated to the real Sports Illustrated. Since then everything has been above board.

I’m very surprised the big-name brands in the V&A Waterfront put up with it. License and trademarks aside, POLO SA is bringing down the tone of the centre, and Cape Town/South Africa as whole.