The Big Business of Replica Designer Sneakers

The footwear industry has been growing in recent years. This includes genuine items, as well as counterfeits. The fake shoe market is well known for its size, yet this illegal industry is not easy to follow and eliminate.

From manufacturers of counterfeits to their distributors and sellers, there is a system of illegal activity aimed at selling counterfeit sneakers to consumers around the world. The footwear industry has been growing in recent years. This includes genuine items, as well as counterfeits.

The fake shoe market is well known for its size, yet this illegal industry is not easy to follow and eliminate. From manufacturers of counterfeits to their distributors and sellers, there is a system of illegal activity aimed at selling counterfeit sneakers to consumers around the world.

When it comes to fake shoes, there are many questions to be asked.

How can I tell if my new branded sneakers are real or fake?

Will fake training shoes affect my performance?

Where are the fake shoes sold?

Are they sold as fakes or genuine items?

What is the quality of the fakes?

There are also other, broader questions.

Where are the fake shoes manufactured?

Is organized crime involved in the production or distribution?

Who Wants Fakes?

The demand for genuine brand name shoes is high. Consumers in stores and online often wish to authenticate their purchases. But there is also a sector of the market in search of fake sneakers. Purchasing fakes has become much more widespread and accessible through online marketplaces and social media platforms. Buying a fake pair of sneakers is as easy as going online and buying something that looks just like the real deal, for a lower price. Some replicas are done so well that even experts find it hard to tell if the shoe is real or fake.

Even sneakerheads may choose to buy high-quality replicas that can pass as authentic. This is especially true when it comes to coveted designs with limited availability. Limited production of a model makes it more desirable and creates a thriving resale market. Resale of hard-to-find designs usually comes with expensive price tag, much higher than retail, pushing some sneaker lovers to purchase replica sneakers.

The Fake Footwear System

Multinational companies from the footwear industry have been outsourcing production to factories in China for many years now. Specific industries often clustered in the same city or area.

After a few years, counterfeiters started copying branded sneakers, such as Nike, Adidas, and fake Yeezys. Fake models started selling right with the authentic ones, and sometimes even before. Security has been enhanced ever since, and these days it is less likely to have “factory extras”, “third-shift” shoes or “real fakes”.

Today, if a retailer wants to sell a popular shoe, he can find online listings of replicas to buy. Alternatively, he can place an order in a factory in China.

The city of Putian, for example, is known for its fake sneaker factories. Since both the buyer and factory are not authorized to make the shoes, they need to imitate them. Due to security measures in legitimate factories, they usually need to do it with no prior product information. What they can do is buy a pair of authentic brand shoes and reverse engineer them.

This involves an experienced individual who gets the shoes, takes them apart, and draws up a design for production.

If rep sneakers are made due to general demand, the manufacturer can upload their pictures online and sell them in bulk. When made for a specific buyer, the first batch is sent to the buyer to check and approve before going on to fulfill the order.

Even consumers take part in the improvement of fakes, as they upload pictures that demonstrate small differences between the fake and real versions for the manufacturer to correct.

Bringing the shoes into the United States, the European Union, and other countries requires a sophisticated network of fraud.

Designer shoes replica arrive from China in mislabeled containers. They are stored in warehouses and then shipped to stores. When caught, it may not be easy to find the people responsible for the illegal production, distribution, and sales because the documents are false.

As specific locations, Putian being one of them, are known for increased counterfeiting activity, importation documents listing the “made in” country are often fake, as well as the port of origin.

As portrayed in a federal complaint reported by Quartz, the listed phone numbers belong to “burner” phones while the email accounts were created using false identities. After they entered the U.S., the containers were not sent to the businesses listed on the manifest but to other facilities.

Sophisticated importers sometimes ship shoes that look almost exactly like the authentic brand, with no trademark. After the shoes are in the U.S., they can sell them as “off-brand” items or attach the trademarked logo to the shoes before offering them for sale.

For smaller operations, counterfeiters send the reps sneakers in small parcels that do not alert customs officials.

The counterfeit problem

When shopping for fake sneakers intentionally, people compare the similarity of the fake to the real design. Often people forget that the shoe may have the same look but not the same feel. Fake shoes are not always as comfortable, even when they look like the real deal.

Counterfeits can damage the reputation of brands, decrease their profits, and hurt their business. To curb the counterfeit problem, some brands try to teach consumers how to spot fakes and even report them to the brand.

Other brands choose not to raise consumer awareness of the issue.

In addition to fake sneakers, there are many different types of replicas on the market, including:

Replica Clothing: Includes replica fashion brand clothing, athletic gear, outerwear, and more.

Replica Designer Hand Bags and Accessories: Replica luxury handbags, replica wallets, replica designer belts and other accessories are also quite common in the market.

Luxury Replicas: Some replicators specialize in replicating luxury items such as watches, fake jewelry, perfumes, etc. These reproductions may be similar in appearance to the original, but differ significantly in quality and materials.

Electronics: Includes replica smartphones, tablets, headphones, and other electronic devices. These replicas are often sold at a lower price, but are often not as good in quality and performance as the originals.

Audio-visual products: including pirated movies, music CDs, game software, etc. These copies violate copyright and intellectual property rights and are a major loss to legitimate copyright holders.

What are Indicators for Fakes?

Price may be one of the first indicators for authenticity. A company that sells the goods you want for a significantly lower price, should be examined carefully. When brands keep their prices in a certain range, unusually low prices can indicate a fake designer. A cheaper look or feel can be another indication.

Another way to help consumers is to use their location, address or zip code to let them know what store(s) in their area sell genuine products by your brands.