Alibaba Group's e-fashion still grapples with counterfeiting issues

I've written about the battle between Western and home-grown fashion e-commerce sites. But mainland internet giants are also cashing in on China's online style shoppers.

Alibaba is arguably China's most famous e-commerce site, with the business-to-business portal selling everything from refined fish oils to light machinery, Bluetooth speakers and sports shoes. It's for bulk-buying and not so useful for personal purchases.

However, sites like the consumer-to-consumer portal Taobao, owned by Alibaba, have made huge inroads in personal fashion purchases and even aid the search for that all-important wedding dress, selling direct copies of Vera Wang designs at a fraction of the price - and, we imagine, quality.

The eBay model of linking independent suppliers to buyers is changing how Chinese people shop online for fashion, especially at lower price points.

The first time I saw AliExpress was on a pop-up screen. The homepage featured a pouting blonde model posing in a cool oxblood leather tunic and grey, slim-cut tweed pants - it could have been an old campaign image from Old Navy or Zara - and made me do a double take.

The e-commerce site is also owned by Alibaba and mostly based on the same principles, but it has no minimum order requirement. Clearly designed for the lucrative personal-shopping market, AliExpress lists a range of lifestyle items. There is a big focus on fashion, accessories, beauty products, shoes, jewellery and watches.

For fashion items, you can search by style, pattern and even material. Two days ago, I was browsing and found a stunning A-line short skirt printed with a Renaissance oil painting of women working on the grounds of an estate - the rich, striking hues of olive, barley and coral complemented with a jolt of blue. Sound familiar? Yes, it's a copy of an item in Carven's autumn-winter 2012 collection.