New York Times: Inside Knock-Off Sneaker Factories

The New York Times did some investigating reporting on the over-sized business of counterfeiting. Their article, “Inside the Knockoff-Tennis-Shoe-Factory,” profiles an Italian shopkeeper who unsuspectingly placed a Nike Tempo shoe order with a Chinese factory that took the shoes blueprint and created over 3,000 clones of the original sneaker. In the article, a Nike employee estimated that for every two authentic Nike sneakers, there is one counterfeit of it in the market. The counterfeiters have become so good at ripping off the originals that sometimes it may be difficult to determine which pairs are the real ones and which are the fakes. The biggest determining factor is where you purchase them from. First of all, Nike has VERY limited online stores that are granted permission to sell Nike shoes online. Chances are if you're buying your shoes from a cheap-looking, non-mainstream website, those shoes are FAKE. Also, if you're at a flea market and they have "Nike" and other branded sneakers for sale for $30-$60, I can promise you that those are also FAKE! The moral of the story: do not buy/support the counterfeits!