With the vacations coming up, and the recent and yet one more Yeezy release on the horizon, it is officially oop szn. Oop szn is most likely my least favourite time of year. Constant phone calls, DMs, and texts from friends, relatives, and acquaintances asking for help with a recent or upcoming delivery. Speaking of phones, I recently got a call from a friend asking me a pretty unique question. He essentially asked me if he should take a pair of boost 350’s that weren’t legal. I stared at my phone in disbelief. I could not accept what I just heard as the reality. One because of how much I respect the person asking me, and two because that person understands the rules of this game very well, and stands on what he is asking me. He explained how this was different. This is not our childhood couple, not a fake site that deceives consumers with real pictures and faux delivery. He advised me to research couples and go from there. I did and now we are here.
There is plenty of unwritten code in this sneaker game. Some have been adjusted and tweaked from past years, but many have remained consistent endlessly. One thing that’s true from the start is, there aren’t any knockoffs. Fake sneakers are nothing new and have been out of fashion for so long as I can remember. Even some of the more popular sneaker-crazed entertainers have been caught out there in a pair of replicas. Heavyweights like Fabolous, Big Boi, Jim Jones, and current Jordan Brand signer Drake have been sidelined for his imitations. All have recovered from their accidents but, I believe we can all agree that Drake is most likely the toughest to forget because he really put him in music videos. Those cases are literally extreme compared to our topic today. Since social media is arguably at the peak of its popularity, it is become harder to live with it. It seems that moments of slander can go on endlessly on the internet. There are now more ways, resources, and tools to review authenticity in the hands of trolls all over the world. And with that getting caught really becomes easier and more common.
Although this year’s fakes have increased, this is something I actually hate to admit, but it is true. As general technology and machinery have advanced, so have the shoes themselves. In the past you had really strange color schemes and looks that looked nothing like the shoes themselves. In retrospect what was it really trying to accomplish? That crazy colorway can only claim to be the best PE. And at that time, the shoes went far away, they did not even know what PE was. We graduated a bit from that crap afterward. At least a bit, the quality is not any better but we’re starting to get some legit colours; considered a duplicate. Many faults can’t be seen with the naked eye, such as seams, slight tint problems, and what else could be considered a “minor flaw”. These shoes could most likely be considered a “B Grade” model; maybe because of a small mistake for the average consumer.
Like I said, the facility has improved over time. We went from fakes, to replicas, to products using some of the original ingredients, to the plight we are in now. The highest level at the moment, and the purpose of the call I’m receiving is about “Unauthorized Authentic”. This Unauthorized Pair takes the counterfeit shoe game to a level like never before. So much so that in a discussion I had of their process it was difficult to even classify them as fake. Now I’m in no way justifying this or advising people to invest in this but this is the harder part of the subject. Unauthorized Authentic, not only are they made with the same materials as the original, some are made by actual machines used for authorized processes. They are also sometimes made in the same warehouse, by the same employees. This pair can be identical to the official release. Black market suppliers have even gone as far as to duplicate sneaker shop receipts for the shoes, pack them in properly labeled boxes and even duplicate them as is finished legally. How can you become an aftermarket buying consumer now? It nearly becomes almost impossible to tell the difference. And in the case of the 350 specific upgrade that concerns me, you cannot.
But, for each villain there’s a hero right? There are plenty of people out there fighting the nice fight to help legit mate checks for those buying from consignment and resellers. One that instantly comes to mind is the “Fake_Education” homie. He does the dirty work so plenty of you haven’t got to be stuck out there getting maligned with endless memes and trolling because your latest pickup is as legit as a New York warehouse in the early 2000’s. In the end these doppelgangers, these clones circulated in society. And, as I mentioned earlier, while there may not be any wiser person no matter what they do, why delude yourself in such a way? The price is almost identical to the official release (with justifiable reasons). But they’re still cryptic. Listen there’s never a future in the future so be wise, freshen up and buy smart people.
