ShoeFraud

Archive for November, 2009

Just added this list of counterfeit Louboutin sellers to the sellers to avoid page.

When I contacted Fluevog to ask if they’d had problems with counterfeiting, they said they had in the past, but as far as they knew it wasn’t currently an issue. I thought I’d go ahead and post the information given to me, in case it becomes a problem again! The Mini line is what most people think of when they think of Fluevogs, with their trademark hourglass heels. You can see the current line of Mini shoes here at the Fluevog site. The authentic Mini shoes have a stylized F on their sole, as pictured, and the triangle Fluevog logo on the heel. The counterfeit shoes did not have a the Fluevog logo on them and instead of an F, had an A on the sole.

Currently, Fluevog has factories in Portugal, Poland, Vietnam, Mexico, Peru, and China; most of the shoes are made in Portugal or Poland. Any shoe that claims to be a Fluevog but is marked as made elsewhere is a counterfeit, and as discussed here, if the shoe is lacking a clear “Made in” mark, I would certainly be suspicious of it.

Unless a shoe is purchased at the annual Vintage Vogs sales, it will come with some sort of box, obviously. This is a photo of an older box (which you might get if you buy at a non-Fluevog store, we got Matt’s shoes at a local retailer & they came in this box):

Here’s a collage of the currently used boxes:

Fluevog is currently redesigning their boxes & the new ones should debut in fall of 2010.

And the shoes made in Portugal and China should have a dust bag inside the box:

Most (but not all!) of the shoes have John Fluevog’s signature on the sole:

Note the big loops on the J, F, and G. Out of the six pairs I own, five have the signature (& my husband’s one pair does as well). Fluevogs in general have high quality construction and are very comfortable to boot, so if you see a pair with exposed seams/glue/shoddy construction, I would be suspicious of its origins!

We’ve already got one post about counterfeit Melissa shoes, but those are specifically the Lady Dragon shoes. I thought I’d do another post about Melissa shoes in general & how to tell authentics from counterfeits.

• Authentic Melissa shoes will say “Made en Brasil/Hecho en Brasil” on the sole.
• Authentic Melissa shoes will have European, American, and Brazilian sizes on the sole; as the shoes are made in Brazil. The Vivienne Westwood Mary Janes will also have a Japanese size on the sole, but at this point they are the only ones that do.
• Authentic Melissa shoes have a bubblegum smell. The fakes I had encountered had a smell something like that – apparently it’s a different smell than the authentic shoes, so if you know what the authentic shoes smell like, then you’re good. If the shoe doesn’t smell at all, then it’s a fake.
• The Lady Dragon shoes were never produced in flat form. If you see these shoes as flats, they’re counterfeit.
• When in doubt, email! The people at Melissa were super kind to me when I was dealing with counterfeit shoes and they will be more than happy to answer your questions about whether the shoes are authentic or not.

This great article at the New York Daily News has information on counterfeit Louboutin sellers & the dangers of counterfeiting to the people (often children working in sweatshops owned by criminals) involved. They’ve got a fabulous photo up with detailed notes:

They also add:

Buyer Beware – How to avoid Internet fakes

1. The domain name of the bogus Web site will often be a variation on the designer’s name. For example, christianlouboutin.com is legitimate;  christianlouboutinlondon.com is not.
2. Be suspicious if there is no telephone number – or a Chinese number with the country code 86 – on the Web site and customer service is by e-mail only. We called a Chinese number on a fake Web site and were kept on hold listening to tinny music. After 10 minutes, we gave up.
3. The bogus sites reassure customers with money-back guarantees, currency converters and a multitude of payment options, but the copy will usually contain grammatical and language errors.
4. If you want an absolute guarantee that a product is genuine, buy from www.Portero.com. Unlike eBay, this online auction site vouches for the authenticity of all the merchandise it sells. If an item sold by Portero is determined to be inauthentic, it will refund the purchase price as well as any shipping and insurance charges.

FYI – in the photos, the black and red shoes are counterfeit, the blue shoes are Princess Poochie’s authentic ones (thank you for the photos, dear!), and the salmon/black ones are from the Zappo’s website.

Box & Hangtag

These photos are from the lovely Nicole of I like things. When I searched for information about counterfeit Melissa shoes, her site was one of the only ones that came up with helpful information. After I left a comment, she emailed me saying she had posted more information and photos – so I asked her if I could use the photos and information in this post. Here’s what she has to say:

The authentic box is pull out, with a hole and metal ring to open it, and the sticker on the side gives a full description of the shoe and a drawn image (this is the box of the same style of shoe but the ‘Orb’ version). The tags are written in whatever it is that Brazilian people speak, and then English, is in two parts, and attached to the shoe via the gold ball-chain.

On the back of the tags is (I think) the style code, and what month and year it’s from.

Overall Appearance

On the counterfeits, the strap appears to be at a different angle & the heels are slightly thicker than the authentic shoes. Note the finish of the plastic also – from the photos I’ve seen of authentic Melissa shoes, the plastic is shiny, like a very high sheen patent. The plastic on the counterfeits is duller (and also appears to show every single fingerprint and smudge). The counterfeit shoes also have glue showing in several spots around the edge of the lining & at the tips of the toes, as well as mold seams visible in more places than the original.

Note the different angle of the orb logo and the thick band at the bottom of the orb on the counterfeit.

Princess Poochie also spotted another difference between the fakes & authentic shoes: on the authentic shoes, the orbs on the lining both face the same way (see this photo for reference). On the fakes, the orbs are mirror images of each other.

Colors

Melissa originally released these shoes in salmon (a pinkish color, with a black heart), blue (with a red heart), pearlescent white (with a red heart), and yellow (with a black heart). In November, four new colors will be released: gray, gold, fuchsia, and lilac. Any colorway other than these eight is definitely counterfeit. And that is straight from the horse’s mouth (a Melissa rep via email). There are of course counterfeits in the ‘official’ colors as well, though.

Details

The studs on the authentic shoes are gold-tone flat disc type studs. The counterfeit shoes have a cone shaped stud with a flattened top, in a silver tone.

Authentic Melissa shose will have American, European, and Brazilian sizes on the sole, as the shoes are made in Brazil. They’re placed closer to the arch of the shoe, and there’s also a Melissa logo in the middle of the arch. They also say “Made in Brazil/Hecho En Brasil” on the outer corner of the treaded part of the sole. Counterfeit shoes only have European and American sizes on treaded part of the sole (my photo is blurry as the camera wasn’t cooperating, but you get the idea).

Most of the time, the easiest and best ways to tell what’s counterfeit and what’s authentic depends on the shoe itself (the brand, the specific make of shoe, etc.). There are a few tip offs in general, though, that should set your alarm bells off. Some of these are:

• Exposed glue or uneven stitching. Compare it to other shoes of the same brand – in your closet, or even look at the same brand of shoes in a brick-and-mortar store. Counterfeits usually look much cheaper than their authentic counterparts.
• Look for the “Made in” mark or tag. If it’s nonexistent, that’s usually not a good sign – but it doesn’t 100% for sure mean the shoes are counterfeit, either. If you do find one, call or email the brand and ask where their shoes are made – see if it matches.
• Serial numbers. Call or email the brand and ask if their products have serial numbers, and if so, where at. Common places for serial numbers are on the hang tag, on the shoebox, on the sole or lining of the shoe, or at the back of the heel.
• Compare your shoes to photos online from authorized retailers. Look at key details like: placement of logo and size, sizes shown (example: some brands show Euro, UK, and American sizes, some show only American, some show only Euro, etc.), color, size, and shape of metal accents, and orientation and size of the logo on the lining.

These aren’t perfect, but you can definitely use these tips to get a good idea if the product is counterfeit or not. Contacting the company usually helps out a lot; they of course don’t want to see counterfeits sold and should be more than happy to give you useful information.