As Oscar Wilde said, imitation is the highest form of recognition. This is cold consolation for sneaker manufacturers, however, as they miss out on a great deal of sales each year – millions at least, as the global sneaker market is estimated to be worth more than €94 billion ($100 billion).
When products are in such high demand, it quickly leads to imitations because everyone wants a piece of the pie. Unlike luxury products, which are unaffordable especially for young customers and the difference in price between original and fake can amount to hundreds if not thousands of euros, sneakers are only tens, at least in terms of retail price (RRP); however, the resale price is different.
The point here is to cater to the general hype and deliver a product that sells out quickly. And consumers are joining in – the hashtag ‘Dupes’ already has more than 2.3 billion views on TikTok. And according to a report published by the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the proportion of young people who confirmed that they have bought at least one counterfeit product in the last 12 months has increased from 14% in 2019 to 37% in 2020 more than doubled.
Counterfeiting can damage brands’ reputations, eat away at their profits and hurt their business. To curb this problem, some brands are trying to train consumers to spot counterfeits and report them to the brand.
Hotukdeals’ Rep Creps study analyzed thousands of posts from replica communities to find the sneakers most commonly counterfeited. When buying one of the models mentioned below, special caution is required to avoid catching a fake.
The ten most fake sneakers
Nike dominates the list of the ten most fake sneakers and takes every spot. At the top is the Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG Dark Mocha with a rep price of $128, an RRP of $170, and a resale price of $531 (almost 500 euros).
In second place is the Travis Scott 1 x Fragment Low, a collaboration between rapper Travis Scott and Hiroshi Fujiwara’s Fragment design. Rep price is $138, RRP is $150, and resale price is $1,443.
In third place is the Travis Scott 1 with a rep price of $139, an RRP of $150 and a resale price of $544. Fourth is the Nike Dunk Low Black White 20, rep price $99, RRP $110 and resale price $263 respectively the Travis Scott Dunk, rep price $129, RRP $150 dollars and resale price $2,048.
The Jordan 4 Retro Off-White Sail is the sixth most counterfeited sneaker, the Air Jordan 4 Black Cat follows at seventh, and the Air Jordan 1 Retro High White University Blue, Travis Scott 1 Low, and Air Jordan 1 Chicago all take the spots eight, nine and ten.
The Top 25
Number eleven on the most counterfeit sneaker list breaks through Nike’s dominance, the Yeezy 700 Waverunner from Adidas. On the following places Nike again: the Jordan 4 Retro Bred, the Jordan 1 Retro High OG Hyper Royal, the Air Jordan 1 High Bred, the Dunk Low Coast Blue Sail, the Union AJ4 Guava and the AJ4 White Cement.
In 18th place again Adidas with the Yeezy 350 V2 Bred, followed by Nike’s Travis Scott 4 in 19th place, but then again Adidas’ Yeezy 350 V2 Triple Black (NRF) in 20th place.
However, the last five places in the top 25 are firmly in Nike’s hands again with the Nike Dunk Low Spartan Green, the Strangelove Dunk Low, the Nike Air Max 1/97 Sean Wotherspoon, the Nike Dunk Low Medium Curry and the Air Jordan 1 Retro High obsidian.
Conclusion
Be careful when buying sneakers, especially when it comes to Nike sneakers – with 88 percent of the sneakers in the top 25 list, Nike is the brand whose shoes are counterfeited the most.
The Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG Dark Mocha is the most counterfeit sneaker. While a replica pair typically retails for $128, legitimate Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG Dark Mocha are available on resale sites for upwards of $500.
The 3,184 sneakers found in Hotukdeals’ sample had an estimated black market value of $407,552; the estimated black market value of the top 25 most counterfeit sneakers is more than $3.7 million. The average resale price for a legal pair of top 25 shoes is $934.