If you want to enjoy your shoes, by all means, go ahead. But it’s just not the same as a legitimate collection.
With all of that said, I miss the days when none of this was a discussion. When fake sneakers were fake sneakers. There was no grey market. There were the Jordans you’d buy at Foot Locker on release day versus colorways you’d never seen before: Air Jordan 7s done up in an Oakland A’s colorway, Dub Zeroes with SpongeBob SquarePants all over them, Jordans with see-through panels, a la the “Invisible Woman” Air Force 1s. Jordan 13s with full-length Air Max units on them. Air Force 1s with Tony Montana’s image all over them. Women’s Air Jordans with high heels.
You could spot fake Jordans, and fake sneakers in general, from a mile away back in the 2000s, and even early 2010s. If it wasn’t the fact that many of these shoes didn’t come in official Nike colorways—we’re talking about something purchased from the Sneaker Man instead of in the mall—the materials and shape of the shoes were dead giveaways that they were fake.
The toebox might have been huge on a fake Air Jordan 4, and the shoe would look exaggerated in general. The materials would be way off. Nubuck would look like construction paper. And if all else failed, the box was half the size of a real one. Or the font was off. Or the label was a piece of printer paper that was attached with a glue stick. There were Jumpman logos that were in different poses or looked like they were caked up. Or, if worse came to worst, you could always give the sneakers a big whiff and get that 100 percent fufu berry smell from them.
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