Protecting Yourself From Fakes

In today’s world where shoes are hyped to the fullest, and people will pay $350 for a pair of shoes. There is a large market for fakes; anyone who could produce a good fake can take advantage of an uninformed person. No one wants to end up with fake Dunks, or to get ripped off for some shoes that they didn’t want. The only way to protect your self is to arm your self with as much info as you can get. So for all those who are inexperienced or just need a little help here are some tips to tell if the Dunks you’re looking at are real.

One of the biggest things to look for is an uncharacteristically low price. If you’re looking for a pair of Dunks that are hyped up and limited, but you see them for $60, they’re more than likely fake. Or you may want a pair of Jordans that retail for $150, and they are $90, unless you have a size 5 shoes, they are fake. The main exception to this rule is if you are buying stolen goods.

Another easy way to identify a fake is when they are in a completely different color scheme than was ever released. It’s even easier when there is clear leather on a pair of Jordans, not one pair of real Jordans has ever had that clear plastic on it. Those two things should be a dead give away.

The first part of the shoe to look at is the upper back heel section at the NIKE font and embroidery. If it’s real the font will be bold, the length of the E’s lines will decrease in descending order and will slant parallel to each other. Another way to tell is the lace bag; it should be 7.5 cm. wide and 13.5 cm. tall. Also, the pin tag hole should be above the zip lock.

One of the other ways to tell if your dunks are fake is by the sole. On the sole there is the Nike swoosh logo and the “R” registered trade mark symbols on the sole. These symbols will look and feel raised from the rest of the sole. The other way to tell is to look at the “grip button.” It’s the little circle at the toe half of the sole. On fake Dunks the button will have a clear and defined edge where on real ones it is rounded off and sloping

The Zoom Air insole is the best way to tell if Dunks are fake. On real Dunks the Zoom Air insole will be off white, or yellowish and transparent, it will be neat and clean with no glue; which is an easy tell on most fakes. The insole will also fit in nicely with out any gaps. The air button is almost in the middle.

This is so far the best and easy way to spot fake Dunks, beside the zoom air insole or if the barcode is touching the number or not. The font will help to decipher when a pair of Dunks are fake or not. There is a certain standard font if you notice that all SBs, Air Max’s, and Jordans, etc. come in. Each type of shoe has their specific type of font to look at and today the people that mass produce fake shoes still have yet to figure out the type of font for Dunks and others. The 2nd way is to check the upper case letter Q in FABRIQUE, the tail should start inside the opening, the fakes start at the outer edge. 3rd the C in the copyright symbol should be a serif font while the fake is a sans serif. Made in China is the wrong font. Plus, look at the stitching that holds the label on, the fake label looks cheap in quality, and looser than the real one.

I think that the more successful the shoe is the more drive there is to fake them. Think about would you make a fake pair of shoes that you know no one will buy, no you’re going to take the best selling shoe and try to sell copies of that. The longer a successful shoe is out the better the fakes are going to become. I found a stand in NJ the other day selling fake Jordans that looked so real I almost bought a pair till I realized that they had the Nike Air symbol instead of the jump man logo. As long as people are fooled by an imitation people will fake any thing that they think they can make money off of. Not all people who buy fakes are fooled some just can’t afford the real ones. If people give the fakers a market they will take advantage of it. So Stop Buying Fake S**T!

Here is a list of box color schemes that are used by Nike as of now and all the sizes that they come in.
1. Pink Box with Black Tag
2. Pink Box with Orange Tag
3. Black Box with Black Tag 2006
4. Silver box with Green Tag
5. Silver box with Green tag but pink box font
6. Silver box with Orange Tag
7. Orange Box with Orange Tag
Size available 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 11.5, 12, 12.5, and 13


A few sites that I have come across in my web browsing days that sell fake shoes are…

1. Cankicks.com
2. Toplineshoe.com
3. Vipkickz.com
4. Sbkicks.com
5. Omarskicks.com

Here are some sites that I will guarantee are real and you can find almost any thing you want…

1. Pickyourshoes.com (they tend to get some things in a week or two early but will cost like twenty dollars extra)
2. Sneakerhead.com
3. 23isback.com (Can be a expensive some times)

By Steven Brennan