You have already reached the 7th post of the ‘Ultimate Real vs. Fake Gucci Bag Guide’ and we hope you learned a lot with our Gucci hardware tips.
What gave the bag away? It could be a tiny detail in the main zipper. It is very easy to miss for the untrained eye. Thus, we suggest saving yourself from embarrassment by having your potential purchase checked with our authentication service.
We will be dividing this post into several parts, each with the aim of familiarizing you with the hallmarks of a real Gucci bag.
A Little Fake Parade
Although not as long as the rectangular leather tag, here we are with another fake parade. Let’s start with a fake zipper pull.
The photo below is a bad fake. Judging by the photo alone, the metal looks flimsy. It is nothing like an authentic Gucci metal zipper pull.
That’s easy. Now, we’ll challenge you with a more difficult one. Look at this Gucci zipper pull:
This zipper pull is similar to what you can find in a lot of contemporary Gucci bags. This is what we call a plain, unmarked leather zipper pull. It looks quite decent, but the giveaway was the leather tag and the serial number (more of this in the Real vs. Fake Gucci Dionysus post).
As we have been saying over and over again, you don’t have to focus on one detail. It is best if you look at several things before arriving at a conclusion on authenticity. Anyway, zipper pulls like this are much easier to copy, so just have it authenticated with us.
Next is the zipper head. The photo below shows a fake zipper head and D metal pull (where the leather pull attaches), and it is fake. As you will see further down below, not all Gucci bags have a marking (either GUCCI, YKK or LAMPO, etc) but this plain one doesn’t cut it.
Last but not the least, look at the two GUCCI marked zippers. One of them was a bad fake, while the other is a slightly better fake.
Now that you have seen these fake Gucci zippers, let us look at different details of an authentic Gucci bag zipper.
Contemporary Plain
As mentioned above, this type of leather zipper pull is easier for Gucci replica makers to imitate. They manage to copy even the correct slanted stitching.
For the sake of discussion, let me first draw your attention to the following (as this is important in subsequent sections). There are two types of hardware where the leather pull attaches:
a) the thin D-metal without a screw
b) the thick D-metal with a screw
Also, there are two types of plain zipper pulls:
a) a standard plain leather
b) a wide plain leather
Now, you can have a combination of these four things, such as the examples below:
Not so confusing, right? Wrong. Even fake Gucci Dionysus and Gucci Marmont bags will have these types of zipper right. Very scary super fakes. Yikes!
Gucci-Marked Leather Pull
You have learned those four combinations above, however, in the examples of Gucci-marked leather pulls below, they fall under the thin D-metal without a screw. (We have yet to see a Gucci-marked zipper pull with a thick D-metal and screw).
As mentioned in another post, the embossing can become shallow due to several factors. Here are examples of authentic Gucci-marked leather pulls:
Interestingly, you should note that the examples above are for contemporary Gucci bags with a contemporary leather tag. These Gucci-marked leather pulls below do not have a D-metal, rather a round one. These are from a 90s Gucci bag.
Medallion
If you recall this post on round leather tags, we first mentioned these medallion zipper pulls. The interlocking GG is attached to a chain, which is then attached to a circular ring attached to the zipper head.
But a medallion zipper pull such as the ones above DO NOT immediately guarantee authenticity! Just a little warning.
Metal Pulls
The first photo of this post is the ugly and fake metal zipper pull. Below is an example of an authentic metal zipper pull. Look how detailed the engraving on the polished silver metal. Bonus that the stitching on the nylon canvas is captured excellently here as well.
In a lot of Gucci hobo bags, it is familiar to see this G metal zipper on the large compartment. This has GUCCI engraved near the hole attached to the zipper head. Also, this style of hobo bag usually has a diamante lining inside.
Below is an example of an authentic interlocking GG zipper pull.
And another metal zipper pull engraved with Gucci.
Vintage
We have focused previously on vintage monogram canvas, as well as the serial number for a Gucci Accessory Collection (GAC). Below is a close-up of the gold Gucci knight crest zipper pull. This is detachable from the zipper head and usually sold separately on eBay.
It was originally conceived as a liftboy in the 1930s, as Guccio Gucci used to work as one at the Savoy Hotel in London. The knight was introduced in the 1950s to pay homage to the medieval Florentine roots of the brand — with the ship’s wheel for entrepreneurship, the flower as beauty, and the armor as security.
This Gucci knight crest had a revival in the Gucci Babouska collection from Fall 2008/2009.
Another sample of a Gucci knight crest zipper pullGucci Crest zipper pull from a vintage Gucci monogram bag.
Look at this variation of the Gucci knight crest. It is in a square-ish gold-tone hardware, and if you look closely, attached in a YKK zipper head.
The gold-tone interlocking GG zipper pull below can also be found in some vintage Gucci Accessory collection bags. You can also see that the hardware is attached to a YKK zipper as well.
Lampo
Don’t be surprised if you see that your Gucci bag has a LAMPO zipper. Gucci used and has been using different types of zippers, and LAMPO has been one of them.
The ones shown here are from an authentic Gucci hobo bag and a Gucci bowling bag.
YKK
You have seen that Gucci Accessory Collection bags used YKK zippers. Actually, a lot of contemporary Gucci bags also use this type of zipper. It has the YKK etched on both sides of the zipper head.
Remember the thick D-metal we had first mentioned above? Here is a close up of its screw, specifically a Phillips screw with a (-) sign.
The other end should be blank like the one above, and the zipper pull after the photo below.
Here is also an example of a YKK zipper in vintage Gucci bags. Notice that it rests parallel to the direction of the zipper.
However, we have seen vintage bags with this zipper pull a bit loose thus the head looking a bit limp.
Other Zipper Information Have you ever seen this zipper pull before? This is an authentic zipper pull made from lucite. It has GUCCI etched on it. The zipper below is from an authentic satin bag with bamboo handles described in Part 3 of the serial number post i.e. the one without the registered trademark.
In contrast to the poorly done GUCCI engraving on the zippers above this post, this one is beautifully done with the correct anatomy of a Gucci logo.
But do not be surprised that some Gucci bags zippers do not have anything written underneath. For instance, look at these authentic zippers (silver and black) that are blank. However…
… if you look closely, the zipper actually is marked with “5CN”.
Before we end the zippers, please note that these are also easily faked. You don’t rely on this one detail alone as super fakes got better in getting these right. You may try our authentication service for security. Next in this ‘Ultimate Real vs. Fake Gucci Bag Guide’ series, we will be discussing the Gucci lining.
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Jump to any section of this ‘Ultimate Real vs. Fake Gucci Bag Guide’ below: introduction | material | vintage serial number | rounded tag serial number | rectangular tag serial number | exterior | hardware | zipper | lining | seams | vintage gucci & gucci accessory collection | gucci outlet | gucci plus | case study 1: gucci abbey bag | case study 2 : gucci soho bag | case study 3 : gucci dionysus bag |