Buyer's Guide to Originals & Re-issues
Buyers Guide.
Hopefully this will give you tips on buying originals, picking up re-issues and most importantly
avoiding fakes!
Old original adidas were manufactured in Europe, mainly France. Some were made in Italy, Germany and Austria so bare that in mind.
Current adidas sneaks are made in Indonesia, so if they say made in China, they could be fake.
There are also loads of fake Bape superstars on eBay. Be aware that they only made 1,500 in total back
in 2003. The most obvious give away is the tag should be attached by a black metal chain. All the fakes
use a nylon string tie. Real examples are also made in U.S. half sizes.
Watch out for the "Ian Brown Music 16" in the 35th anniversary Superstar range. The leather should be a very dark green, the counterfeiters are churning out Black copies.
The adidas 35th Anniversary editions Music, Expression, Cites, Consortium. There were only 5,000 of each made for the music series, so only 5k Run DMC,5k Ian Brown etc etc. Only 4,000 of the Expression, same goes, only 4k of the Warhol and 4k Disney.
The Consortium is probably most special, only 500 of each made. If you've got a D-Mop you've very lucky!
Original Puma's were also manufactured in Europe, but these were mainly in West Germany & Italy. The
re-issues are made in china. They should also have a Factory Number starting with CDS, CTL quoted on the size tag inside the shoe. The tag on the Puma Baskets should be stitched to the edge of the tongue on the inner side and the writing will be upside down as you look at it.
The MTV Rap's series, only 500 re-issues made in the "Ed & Dre" and only 1,500 for Big Daddy Kane. There are also 1,500 of the
Doug E Fresh & MC Shan.
Fila - The original Bjorn Borg elites, when Bjorn was signed to Fila. The shoe bore his signature, the re-issues do not.
Nike should always have a 6 digit code under the tongue. This will tell you if it’s an old original
or a re-issue. The last 2 digits of the code signify the year they were made '98 = 1998, '06 = 2006.
Because of the popularity of the Nike Dunk SB's huge amount of fakes have been made. Here are some things
to look out for.
The spare SB lace bag will be 13.5cm in height and the punch hole where the nylon string attaches will be
above the plastic zip. Also check the Air Zoom insole. This should be a translucent gel, and the air
button should be almost central.
If you’re trying to pick up a pair of clear/invisible AF1's, Nike only made 2 colours - Blue & Purple. Any
other colourways are fake.
Also another good thing to look out for is the "AIR" logo on the midsole. On genuine sneaks this will be
coloured, not white. It will either be the same colour as the sole or the accent colour on the toebox, but not white!
Also compare the size of the "Swoosh", if it looks massive you've potentially got a problem. Compare it to
others in your collection or to the "Nike" website www.nike.com
Bapesta. Like the "Air" on AF1's, The "APE" on the midsole should be the same colour as the sole, or the accent on the toebox. If it is white
it is a fake. Also where the "star" joins the "lighting strike" on the bottom edge, the gap should be
very small, if a large gap i.e. more that 2mm they are fakes.
If you want to know the year of manufacture for Onitsuka Tigers it is displayed on the box next to the
barcode. Even though they are the 5th most popular sporting brand globally the counterfeiters are not
producing fakes that we know of.
There has been reports of a spate of fake "New Balance Mad Stussy MT580AG" on the market. Look out for the oversized toe box and the shade of nylon yellow is much lighter. The real sneaks have a more bronzy tone to the yellow. The "N" logo on the side should be reflective, not matt grey.
In addition to all of the above tips, just look at the workman ship. If they have poor quality stitching or
Embroidery, dollops of glue, rough edges and wonky joints your alarm bells should be ringing loud & clear. Genuine products are strictly quality controlled and would not leave the factory unless they're perfect! The price there being sold for should also tell a story. If they're a rare-ish piece and they're going cheap, it's a not a bargain, it's a fake!
If you've got any other good advice, please e-mail it to dale@soleheaven.com and I’ll post it on the site.
Information is Power, so keep your wits about you, and together we'll sink these dodgy counterfeiters!
