Gucci warns shops over funeral fakes

Italian luxury fashion house Gucci has sent warning letters to Hong Kong shops not to sell paper versions of its branded products as offerings to the dead, a report said on Friday.

Paper replicas of items like mansions, cars, iPads and luxury bags are burnt in the belief when people die so they can use them in the afterlife, BBC reported.

"We fully respect the funeral context and we trust that the store owners did not have the intention to infringe Gucci's trademark," Gucci Hong Kong said in a statement.

"Thus a letter was sent on an informational basis to let these stores know about the products they were carrying and by asking them to stop selling those items," the statement said.

In Hong Kong, some shops that had reportedly received the letters have removed their Gucci wares.

But other brands, including Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Burberry and New Balance, are still on sale.

Demand for these products is highest during the Qingming "tomb-sweeping" festival which took place last month.

--IANS

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