Salvatore Ferragamo continues to fight against counterfeiters with aid of microchips

London - Luxury Italian brand Salvatore Ferragamo is taking its ongoing battle against counterfeiters one step further by inserting microchips in the heels of it footwear and selected handbags. The announcement comes after the company revealed that in 2015 it intercepted and stopped 91,000 online advertisements for counterfeit products and blocked 140 illegal websites and domain names from using their name.

"In 2015, we further expanded the number of e-commerce sites that we monitor," said Ferragamo Group chairman Ferruccio Ferragamo to WWD. "On the Chinese market, we have continued and ramped up our offline checks, targeting trade fairs and resellers in particular." The luxury fashion house has been inserting microchips in its women's wear shoes since its pre-fall 2014 collection, to ensure product authenticity and to track its products as well. The microchip cannot be seen in the shoe or bag and will only be readable at a distance of 4 centimeters or less.

Ferragamo continues to identifying counterfeiters around the world, confiscating and destroying over 12,500 counterfeit goods last year. Chinese customs authorities also blocked over 12,400 fake items leaving the country in 2015 and seized over 34,000 counterfeit items in 2015, which had a total estimated value of 17 million US dollars.