Fashion brands offer iconic associations with the consumers about their personalities and approaches, which are beyond their basic need of product features. Counterfeit fashion brands are similar or confusingly similar copies of authentic fashion brands and these are typically available at a fraction of the original product price with lower quality. The purpose of this study was to measure Indian consumers’ ethical and other values based on various factors affecting the consumer-purchasing attitude of counterfeit fashion brands. The study determines important predictors of attitude towards counterfeits as fashion and brand consciousness and social impact. This study also supports the fact that attitude towards counterfeit fashion brands leads to ethical judgement and ideologies and is negatively influenced by consumer’s ethical consciousness. The findings of this study may benefit fashion brand marketers, producers and practitioners in their marketing communication to design their branding strategies in the Indian context. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2019.