In addition to the Clio Coddles on Shanghai’s prestigious Nanjing Road (南京路), I came across HengHee (pictured) – two in fact, one not far from the famed Peace Hotel. In this small area, nearby is NuoManDiEYu and just opposite that: the real deal LaCoste.

Although HengHee is not an entire rip off, the attempt to re-use the crocodile is obvious considering the number of other reptile choices. What impresses me is they all clearly do well enough to afford the Nanjing Road rental costs. What I wonder is, how many people buying are actually from Shanghai vs. unsuspecting tourists from outside provinces.

If country bumpkins are cash cows, I feel like i’m missing out here!

Anyone want to invest in a Collo Collo? I’ll use an upside down crocodile as my logo.

Spotted in a cheap Beijing shopping mall: Tuogo Jeans.

This casual, hip clothing brand looks to me like a blatant rip-off of Hong Kong brand Tough Jeans. Surely the logos are not a coincidence?

In a recent trip through Changsha in Hunan Province (湖南长沙) I stumbled across this shop, only some few hundred metres away from the Clio Coddle itself. I didn’t see a Crocodile or Lacoste in the vicinity however. I suppose by now i’m hardly surprised, though it does amaze me how shoppers can fall for such blatant rip offs unless, that is, they don’t care about branding at all – in which case what’s the point to copy? I do wonder.

The english (NuoManDiEYu) is basically Chinese pinyin for “The Romantic Crocodile” (诺曼的鳄鱼). Notice the logo is also a crocodile, pointing in the same direction as that of Clio Coddle’s.

Not far from NuoManDiEYu I noticed Kobbo. Looks disturbingly similar to Italian clothing company Kappa, which had an official store only some 50 metres away. Kappa, who also own the Robe di Kappa brand, were a little known brand in China until brought into China in 2006 by the China Dongxiang Group. Now listed on the stock exchange, owner Chen Yihong is now amongst the 50 richest men in China.

I don’t suppose Kobbo would ever get that far.