When it comes to buying designer labels, it's common knowledge that anything in any backroom on Canal Street is probably nothing but a really great fake, but what about things you buy off Ebay, or a third-party seller? There's one way to be sure that you're not buying a fake, and it isn't a high-paid fashion detective: it's technology of course. Using a hand-held scanner, testers can spot a fake by scanning for trace fibers embedded by the manufacturer.

The Verifi TT technology was unveiled at New Zealand fashion week (yes, everybody has a fashion week these days) where two identical twins -- blond sisters to be exact -- wore two identical dresses, one with the trace fibers, one without. As a scientist passed the scanner over one dress, a green light indicated that the dress contained the trace fiber.

The high tech fabric was designed by a New Zealand tech firm called AgResearch, who teamed up with DNA testing companies and the NZ government to come up with this nearly indestructible nano-fiber. Similar to anti-counterfeiting systems used in casino chips, the new technology is being considered by several huge designers. The whole operation is very hush-hush, because the don't want to give counterfeiters a head start.

[via Jezebel]