Are counterfeit shoes that big of a problem?

It is estimated that over 75% of all Nikes sold online are fake. This is because there are exponentially more counterfeit factories than Nike factories and they produce shoes at a much faster rate. Churning out millions of shoes every month and frequently updating their product to achieve greater accuracy, the knock-off factories even use the same molds and presses as Nike (who also produces their shoes in China), making their reproductions increasingly difficult to spot. To add to the problem, there seems to be no evidence that Nike has taken any serious steps to stop the counterfeiters. This is most apparent in the fact that many knock-off sellers even sell their shoes under Nike’s name, and don’t even get us started with what’s happening on eBay!

So if the knock-off shoes look almost identical to the real thing, what’s the problem?

Counterfeit shoes are cheap for a reason. If you get a pair of knock-offs and you can’t tell by looking at them, you’ll know for sure after a few minutes of running in them. The soles of theses shoes are not articulated to match the soles of your feet and they are made of low quality rubbers and foam that do not absorb shock and rebound like the genuine product. Extensive activity in counterfeit shoes will most likely result in damage to your feet. Additionally, these shoes are also made of extremely cheap imitation leather that is neither breathable nor waterproof, which can cause heavy amounts of moisture, odor and discomfort.

Just to prove a point…

On-line stores that sell counterfeit shoes are flourishing and they sell product so quickly that some have trouble keeping shoes in stock. This is even true for the numerous sites that sell knock-offs for over $100!!!

So we did the legwork for you and actually purchased a pair of $79 counterfeit Nike Air Jordan Retro Vs and wore them for a month. Here’s the results…

After walking in the shoes for a couple hours, we knew we wouldn’t get through this without insoles. We tried numerous brands of insoles but could not get the shoe remotely comfortable until we installed these heavy duty $45 insoles.

The materials used to make the uppers of these shoes were cheaper than we expected. We figured since they would be made of plastic, at least they would probably be waterproof and warm… they’re weren’t.

And the condition of the shoes after a month of use…

Cracked uppers

Paint rubbing off

Moldings coming appart

Color coating peeling off

If you’re considering purchasing name brand shoes on line, here’s what to look for on a website:

1. Photos of the item that are large, well lit, close-up and taken from numerous angles. If someone is selling a counterfeit item, they will try to hide the item’s flaws by showing limited small photos or photos that were taken from a distance. You can’t always trust the pictures though; more savvy sellers of counterfeit items will download photos of the real merchandise and post them on their website.
2. Reasonable pricing, you want a good deal not a great deal. If you’re shopping for an item that retails for $175.00 and you see it selling for $59.00, don’t ask any questions, just purchase elsewhere; that price is less than the shoe wholesales for. But be cautious of reasonable pricing too, many sites sell fakes for as much as $124.99.
3. Realistic quantities. If you’re looking for a hard-to-come-by item and the online store your shopping at has a surplus of it and stocks it in every size and color, keep looking.
4. Most importantly when purchasing online… use common sense. Everything listed above is common sense reasoning but we constantly hear from people that brag to us about buying $250 retro shoes for $60 and when we ask where got them, we even get answers like “a gas station” and “the back of this guy’s van”; and they swear to us that the shoes they bought are real (not kidding).

To learn more about counterfeit shoes, check out these other resources:

http://www.sneakerhead.com/avoid-fake-sneakers-p2.html

This forum lists Hundreds of web stores selling counterfeit Nikes:

Conterfeit Nike Forum at 23jordan.com