'Made in Singapore'? Popular US-based content creator who picks apart luxury leather bags questions local company's claims
Aupen doesn't have any physical retail stores either, selling its line of bags purely from its website. Media reports had also indicated that the Singapore label has studios in Brooklyn, New York and Singapore. This caused a frenzy among fans, some of whom rushed to buy their bags for fear of missing out if the company were to close. This made Volkan "confident" that these moves were part of some "PR mind games" by a "mastermind with significant investment" who could be pushing the brand on social media.
During his dialogue with Aupen's PR team who'd reached out to him following his purchase, they'd affirmed that Aupen had a "single manufacturing partner in Singapore with 10 artisans" working in the country, said Volkan. A staff member at Crockohdial told Volkan over the phone that they'd had dealings with Aupen in the past, but not anymore.
"This whole thing doesn't add up from a cost standpoint based on the information I have gathered in this investigation," said Tanner, noting that if it were made in Singapore, it would cost as much or if not more than it would be if it were made in France or Italy. In addition, the site was later taken offline for a period of time following his video and locked under password protection.