Sneaker authenticator? Now there's a job for ya!

When I was searching for an image to illustrate this post, I used the term "expensive nike sneakers." What came up first was a pair of size 9 Louis Vuitton/Nike Air Forces, available for a negotiable price of $23,750. There's complimentary shipping in the US, but nonetheless, $23,750 does seem a tad steep for a pair of sneakers. And I'd hate like mad to pay that much for these sweet Nikes only to find out that they were fakes. Talk about Jeez Louise Vuitton.

Apparently, there's a ton of sneaker forgery out there. 

The sneaker market is colossal - estimated at $72 billion globally per annum. 

And I, a 7 mile a day walker who walks through about 3-4 pairs a year, am a modest contributor to that. Sneakers are what I'm wearing about 95% of the time, and I get good ones. Which I believe to be authentic, trusting Zappo's as I do. Mostly ASICs. But paying $150 a pair is one thing. $23,750 is quite another.

Anyway, where there's a colossal market, there's colossal inducement to fraud, especially when it comes to iconic brands like Nike, and collectors who've gotta have the latest latest. (A few years ago, I walked in the cold rain passed a store on Newbury Street. There was a long line out front. The sort of line I'd seen only at an Apple store on new iPhone day, or on the news for the old Filene's Basement "Running of the Brides" wedding dress sale. I asked someone what they were lined up for, and I initially interpreted his response to be that he was waiting to see Kanye West. Then I realized that the line was there because a limited supply of Ye's Yeezy sneakers were going to be on the shelf that day.)

Footwear is one of the top counterfeited industries. Nearly $96.7 million of footwear was seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2021, up from $63.1 million in the previous year, CBP spokesperson Jeffrey Quiñones said in a statement.

Fake footwear trailed only handbags and clothes, according to 2021 customs data, rising from the sixth-most-seized item just three years ago. (Source: Washington Post)

Less than $100M seized? A pittance compared to the overall market. But wait a darned minute. 

The counterfeit sneaker market last year might have been worth $450 billion, more than five times the value of the legitimate market, according to a report from fitness trend reporter RunRepeat.

Needless to say, the legit sneaker producers aren't big fans of counterfeits. After all, they've invested a lot in coming up with a product that so many people want, a brand that consumers so proudly wear. The resellers like eBay and StockX (a sneaker marketplace) aren't wild about it, either. Their names get tarnished if folks think they're buying the real deal, only to find out they've got a real fake. 

To the rescue are sneaker authenticators, experts like Justin Mupas, "who examines hundreds of shoes each day as a trained sneaker authenticator for the online marketplace StockX,"

For StockX’s human authenticators, the process involves more than 25 elements, starting with the shoe box. Even the box paper, which buyers tend to discard, can say something about the shoes inside, Mupas said.

“There’s some things that we can point out immediately that to a regular person that’s not an authenticator, they wouldn’t be able to see it,” Mupas said, adding that authenticators have to understand every brand and sneaker style available on the StockX platform.

Authenticators don't reveal all the tricks of their trade. After all, they don't want to let the fakers onto the tells. But Mupas as able to identify a real pair of Chunky Dunky sneakers (a shoe produced by Nike in collaboration with Ben & Jerry's) by it's "scent of animal hair. The fakes smell like factory glue."

Think I'll take a hard pass on sneakers that smell like animal hair. 

Thanks to LinkedIn, I learned that Mupas spent his early career in financial services (insurance, small business loans) before joining StockX as an authenticator four-and-a-half years ago. Nothing in his background screams "sneaker authenticator", but he's a young guy and, I'm guessing, a sneaker buff.

His company, StockX, is embroiled in a suit with Nike, which has claimed that, authenticators aside, StockX has been selling counterfeits. 

EBay would, of course, love to see Nike prevail, making them the dominant force in the authentication space. 

Today, authentication is primarily done by humans, but AI-based authentication is coming.

Raymond Nieves, an eBay authenticator, said real people would have to continue being involved in deciphering real vs. fake shoes. With human senses — sight, smell, touch.

“A robot cannot do this,” he said.

Just you wait, Raymond Nieves, just you wait.

For now, sneaker authenticator may look like a secure profession, but machines are on the way that will be able to tell me whether those Louis Vuitton Green Nikes are real, or real fakes.