Earlier this month reports first emerged that Vera Wang‘s Chinese store was practicing an unusual (and country-specific) new policy for its bridal customers: a ‘trying fee’, payable in advance, that secured a 90-minute session with the gowns. The 3,000 yuan ($ 500) charge would be deducted from the final cost of the dress, or could be used as store credit on other Vera Wang items, but would otherwise be lost.
After news of the charges hit the media — including Vogue Magazine — this week, negative press began to build. Wednesday, in an email to the Reuters news agency, a spokesperson for Vera Wang announced the end of the policy:
"Please kindly be informed that Vera Wang has abolished appointment fees at her bridal salons worldwide starting from March 27, 2013".
The policy was apparently designed to deter counterfeiters from producing copies of the brand’s pieces, which regularly appear on the Taobao site, China’s largest online marketplace.
According to Reuters, last year "China was the top source country for counterfeit goods entering the United States and the European Union (EU) with more than 70 percent originating from China".
The ‘trying fee’ is a feature of some Hong Kong-based retailers, but has not been seen in mainland China, and was not applied at any of Vera Wang’s other global locations.
Famed for her iconic wedding dresses (as worn by Victoria Beckham, Jennifer Garner and Kim Kardashian), Chinese-American Vera Wang first trained as a figure skater before entering the world of fashion. Wang won the CFDA’s award for ‘womenswear designer of the year’ in 2005.
jt/cm