Sharon Smurfit said she is fast becoming an expert in sniffing out fakes after opening a store specialising in second-hand designer goods on Dublin's Baggot Street.

Located opposite Doheny & Nesbitt's pub, customers at 'Wear It Again' receive 50% of the retail price of high-end clothes, shoes and handbags once the items have been sold.

But how does Sharon know what's a real Gucci, Prada or Juicy Couture?

She told The Diary: "We know quite a bit about designer bags and we would have a fairly good idea about whether they are genuine or not.

"But there's the obvious as well – for instance, if a girl drops in a Louis Vuitton button bag and doesn't care what she gets for it, the chances are it's not going to be real," she said. "All the handbags that come in go out again very fast."

Sharon can be less careful with other stock which the shop gets directly from designers clearing out their warehouses. Everything, it seems, is high-end stock.

"I think the most expensive item that's come through the shop so far was a Dolce & Gabbana suit which would have cost the owner about €1,000 when it was purchased originally."

Sharon was talking to The Diary at a fashion show organised by Wear It Again which took place in Diep Le Shaker on Friday in aid of The Water Angels Charity and which was attended by the charity's founder Lynn Quinlan, along with Caroline Downey, Emily O'Donnell and PR Toni Wall.