Legit Check: Vans Old Skool
Counterfeit vs. Real
10 ways to spot fake Vans Sneakers
How do you know if Vans are fake? Today we have two pairs of Vans Old Skool sneakers: a real pair of Vans shoes purchased directly from the Vans Outlet and a counterfeit pair imported from South China. We will examine the small details that show the big story of counterfeit Vans, and you will learn how to tell if a Vans shoe is real or fake. The secret to a Vans sneaker authentification check is in the quality of the shoemaking and the vulcanized construction.
Is the price right?
When shopping for authentic Vans shoes you should expect to pay real Vans prices. If you find Vans at a price that is too good to be true… then it IS too good to be true. Low prices and beat up boxes are your first clue that you have a fake, copy, cloned, counterfeit or illegally smuggled-in B-grade Vans shoes.
Make any mail-order or E-Bay purchases from trusted retailers. Remember, slightly used does not mean the shoes were real Vans to start with.
Legit Check Your Vans Sneakers: What to look for?
Is the Vans stripe real or fake?
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The real rubber stripe -
The fake painted sole stripe
The first thing to look at is the sole stripe. The stripe on the rubber foxing tape is a trademark styling cue for the Vans classic. Study the stripe carefully; the authentic Vans shoe stripe is molded-in color. Vans makes the stripe with solid colored rubber that has clean and straight edges. The fake Vans have a painted stripe. You can see the paint job here is not perfect, and you can even see a dab of paint slopped onto the toe foxing.
Real Vans outsole foxing tape.
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The fake Vans outsole is molded. -
Real Vans toe foxing is glued on.
You can see where the toe tip rubber part is attached to the shoe on the authentic pair of Vans. Meanwhile, the counterfeit Vans sole has a very different surface texture, and the toe foxing is molded directly to the sole unit. This is very suspicious! This outsole may not have been made by vulcanization. On the real Vans shoe, you can see the tiny gap where these two parts come together. The authentic Vans toe tip is glued on, NOT molded together as one piece like the counterfeit Vans shoe.
Look inside authentic Vans shoes
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The fake Vans cupsole construction. -
The real Vans vulcanized design.
It is time to start cutting! Looking inside the real and fake Vans, you can see some huge problems! The counterfeit Vans are not made by the vulcanization process. The counterfeit Vans outsole is a one-piece rubber cupsole. The factory producing the copy Vans shoe is using the cold cement assembly process. The real Vans waffle sole is made from several assembled parts that have been bonded by vulcanization. (You can read about vulcanization here and in our book How Shoes Are Made.)
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Look inside fake Vans sneakers
In this cutaway section of the Vans shoes, you see blue and grey sponge rubber inside the real Vans shoe. Inside the fake Vans, you see a green lasting board, white Strobel layer, and EVA footbed. Wrong!
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Fake Vans Strobel construction. -
Real Vans sneaker board-lasted.
Inside the heels of the shoes, you can see the fake shoe is made by Strobel construction. This process is not bad; it’s just not how Vans classics are made! You don’t have to cut open your shoes to check this feature – The real vans shoe will have the footbed glued in securely. The counterfeit Vans may have a removable EVA footbed. In this case, a flat, die-cut piece of EVA.
You can learn more about counterfeit Vans shoes here:
The Counterfeit Report: Vans Shoes
Look inside authentic Vans shoes
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The fake Vans cupsole construction. -
The real Vans vulcanized design.
It is time to start cutting! Looking inside the real and fake Vans, you can see some huge problems! The counterfeit Vans are not made by the vulcanization process. The counterfeit Vans outsole is a one-piece rubber cupsole. The factory producing the copy Vans shoe is using the cold cement assembly process. The real Vans waffle sole is made from several assembled parts that have been bonded by vulcanization. (You can read about vulcanization here and in our book How Shoes Are Made.)
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Look inside fake Vans sneakers
In this cutaway section of the Vans shoes, you see blue and grey sponge rubber inside the real Vans shoe. Inside the fake Vans, you see a green lasting board, white Strobel layer, and EVA footbed. Wrong!
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Fake Vans Strobel construction. -
Real Vans sneaker board-lasted.
Inside the heels of the shoes, you can see the fake shoe is made by Strobel construction. This process is not bad; it’s just not how Vans classics are made! You don’t have to cut open your shoes to check this feature – The real vans shoe will have the footbed glued in securely. The counterfeit Vans may have a removable EVA footbed. In this case, a flat, die-cut piece of EVA.