I copped these off eBay for a friend who wanted a deal and low and the first thing I said to him was why are they so small for a size 11. Sadly I thought it was Adidas quality control but then upon closer inspection I knew we had fakes on our hands. Pretty damn good fakes at that. So in an effort to combat fakes in my own way, here is a guide for spotting fakes.
First off don’t buy off weird sites. I know a few years ago a lot of you guys were trying to cop sold out Curry’s for retail or discount prices. Anytime you see a site called UACURRYSHOES.com or CurryMVPSHOES.com and has these shitty stock pictures, close your browser and walk away. 
The same applies to all “sold out” shoes.
Don’t be afraid of eBay at least here in the US. eBay has improved its buyer protection to the point that you can return anything to a seller for any reason without eBay even bothering to look at the actual case. For example, I filed a claim against this seller and got a reply in five minutes in my favor. It’s so buyer biased that as long as you don’t have some strikes against you or do it frequently, you’ll get your money back including shipping. More on eBay and it’s pro Buyerness in a future post.
Okay into the Harden shoe
Sizing
Left real, right fakes. Notice the direction of the uppers texture as well
Both are size 11 but you can see from the pic what a huge size difference there is. I’d guess the fake is about a 10 or 9.5 in reality. I thought the days of small sized fakes were in the past but I guess not
Inner tag
I don’t think Adidas makes shoes in Vietnam although with China tariffs coming soon, you might start to. Get ready for some lower quality kicks and serious skimping in the near future by shoe companies. Single layer mosquito netting will be the new flyknit unless they move factories to another country.
The Upper
The real v3 has the upper mesh lines running parallel to the three stripes. As you can see in the pic, the fakes run almost perpendicular.
Just for extra proof here is my ASU pair. Plus just wanted to show them off.
Don’t get me wrong, it feels the same and looks very very similar but the lines are just wrong
Tongue
left fake, right right
Upon first glance you wouldn’t notice the difference but the fakes typically don’t use very good tumbled leather. There are almost no “tumbles” to the leather as you can see from the pic.
Heel counter
Yea that’s just a huge difference in height
Also btw that there is one less + per row.
Insole
Left fake, right real
You can see how much flatter the fakes are.
Strobel
Top real, bottom fakes
Foam strobel on the fakes vs cloth with the real pair.
Last but not least fake Boost
Left fake, right real
Yep, it feels pretty good to the touch and not bad at all underfoot but real Boost has the little perforations/holes and nips on them. The fakes are just reshaped foam beads.
Conclusion
If you’re going to buy off eBay or a secondary market, make sure you can get it authenticated like GOAT and Stock X do or make sure you can get your money back. Those sites like I noted earlier are horrible when it comes to getting your money back (I’ve heard horror stories). Obviously it’s best to buy off the big box stores or the medium stores but it’s hard to police kicks when fakes are being made across the world. I’m glad I helped a lot of people with the fake Curry article a few years ago and I hope this helps as well. Oh and btw, Harden V3 sales are coming since the V4 is around the corner. 🙂
Fakes getting better and better every year, smh.
Question off topic of this post but still related to the Harden Vol. 3. Now that you had a chance to play in both the translucent and solid marble outsoles, what’s your take? Any preference or does one just perform better than the other?
I got the black/charcoal/blue tiger strip cw, but that has the combo traction, was looking to get a 2nd pair either the black Luckys or Cosmos and not sure which. Thanks
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Solid is very slightly better imo but not much
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So Luckys it is then, thanks appreciate the response.
Keep up the grade A work!!!
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Thanks for reading !
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come on man
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Hi Schwollo,
Just bought some crazy light boost 2018 off on Amazon. I’m suspecting they are fakes, but I’m not sure- literally no one else sells this color way. What should I do?
https://www.amazon.com/adidas-Crazy-Light-Boost-SChamp/dp/B07NY7QFZJ/ref=pd_sbs_309_4/136-2839446-2094204?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07P1B7QWS&pd_rd_r=c762540b-69ae-407e-b55d-c0a2d7908956&pd_rd_w=ZTw3V&pd_rd_wg=OQC2u&pf_rd_p=d66372fe-68a6-48a3-90ec-41d7f64212be&pf_rd_r=49PC0E6NV9CBGXNTCGBY&refRID=49PC0E6NV9CBGXNTCGBY&th=1&psc=1
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Return them if you’re unsure . Amazon is good about protecting the customer .
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I’m not sure they are fakes, though. The material is not a textile and the boost feels kind of off, but otherwise it feels really good. I’m being overly cautious, but I’m not too sure.
Thanks for response!
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Does the boost have the little perforations? Send me a pic on Instagram
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They also bend very easily. With my hand I can bend both ends on the shoe pretty easily. I thought these shoes weren’t supposed to be very flexible? How easily can you bend your pair?
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Where are you bending it? The midfoot Shank isn’t overly firm but it shouldn’t been Kobe ff easy to bend
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Collection of images up there ^
-The boost feels super low to the ground especially in the forefoot. I thought these were very even in the forefoot and heel with a good chunk of boost? Doesn’t feel boost-y, at all.
-Some tags are ripped off.
-Serial numbers are drastically different form each other. I know each shoe should have different serial numbers but its not close in similarity between the number on the left shoe and the number on right.
-No reviews of any kind for this color way of shoe anywhere on the internet. The material looks different from usual color ways, but I can’t confirm it is different.
-Heel achilles pillow isn’t as nice as people say it is.
-Bendy, can even bend the heel portion
Buuuuuut the traction feels pretty nice. Looks somewhat well built. I’m not sure – fakes?
Thank you so much for helping! Love the reviews. You really the goat because you cover all possible details.
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Man that’s tough to tell from the pics. I’d contact adidas and ask them. Def never seen that colorway. They’ll probably ask for tag number
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And thank you!
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Any timeframe on review for Jordan 34?
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This weekend or early next week. Great shoe
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How do the fakes perform on-court? 😅😂
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