I’ve always been told that marijuana is the gateway drug to harder narcotics, but I never stopped to think that buying a counterfeit handbag would be the gateway to the luxurious world of high-end designer bags. According to an MIT researcher, knock-off bags are the first step into the world of high-end handbag addiction.

MIT Sloan School of Management professor Renee Richardson Gosline doesn’t condone the purchase of fake designer handbags, but in a recent study she determined that more than 40 percent of participants who had previously purchased knock-off bags eventually purchased authentic merchandise, due partially to the inferiority of fakes.

Aside from determining counterfeit goods are not substitutes for the real thing, she said the fakes are sometimes viewed as “low-risk trial” purchases, but once compared with the actual branded product, consumers realize they obviously do not measure up. Customers dissatisfied with the lack of quality (poor stitching, cheap leather, crappy hardware) will eventually end up dropping the big bucks for the real thing.

“People originally think the counterfeit will be a substitute for the real thing, but they find out the real thing is better,” Gosline said of her two-and-a-half-year survey, “Rethinking Brand Contamination: How Consumers Maintain Distinction When Symbolic Boundaries Are Breached.”

Gosline said she came up with the idea for her study after being invited to a “purse party,” a Tupperware-type gathering where counterfeit handbags are sold. She was struck by how brazen people were in bragging about their fake goods, which seemed to defeat the purpose for buying it in the first place. “Why would you tell everybody in your social network—your friends, neighbors, colleagues? I was astounded these fakes weren’t [seen as] substitutes for the real thing,” she said.

But Gosline did say that one of the greatest risks of counterfeit goods is their potential to alienate legitimate consumers after markets become flooded with knock-off versions of the real thing, making the high-end item undesirable.

Take for example the Louis Vuitton Murakami handbag, which offered an updated version of the iconic logo by mixing a bold white background and bright colors. The bag debuted to spectacular reviews, causing a wave of panic by fashionistas to get their hands on one. I was actually wait-listed for a Murakami Speedy bag, but removed my name after a walk down Fifth Avenue became a blur of Murakami fakes. Since Louis Vuitton hadn’t produced many bags outright, the flood of counterfeit arm-candy made me sick with overexposure.

Online vigilante consumer groups have been penetrating social media sites in an attempt deter people from purchasing counterfeit items and the Facebook group, “Darling I Can Tell by the Rest of Your Outfit Your Louis Vuitton is Fake” are quick to point out wanna-be’s who dare to wear fake designer merchandise out of their home.

Counterfeiters are becoming increasingly quick to copy items worn by celebrities on the red carpet or around Hollywood with Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Gucci among the luxury labels that continue to be victimized by street-front vendors who set up collapsible tables with fake merchandise.