Counterfeit Education

Though we’d like to help victims of counterfeiting, we cannot reimburse money used to purchase counterfeit products or to assist with the resolution of disputes, including assistance with PayPal refunds. However, by locating counterfeiters and taking legal action against them, we are doing our part to eliminate future incidents of counterfeiting from occurring. Our goal is to help our customers to be aware of counterfeit footwear that is being sold to unsuspecting buyers as genuine SUPRA products.

Facts about Counterfeit

• A counterfeit product is one that is made in exact imitation of something valuable or important with the intent to deceive the consumer into believing it to be genuine.
• Counterfeiting is illegal. It has a significant impact on the global economy, removing tens of thousands of jobs and costing the economy an estimated $600 Billion of legitimate revenue a year.
• Counterfeiting is not a victimless crime. Consumers who believe they are purchasing genuine items are left with inferior items that cannot live up to their expectations. Counterfeiters hurt legitimate business owners as well as the overall economy because they do not pay taxes nor do they provide fair wages or benefits to their employees. They frequently use child labor, participate in identity theft, fail to deliver goods that were paid for and have been connected to gang activity and terrorism, among other crimes. When you purchase a counterfeit product, you are funding and supporting this criminal activity.
• Counterfeiters are not accountable to human rights and environmental regulations. Counterfeiters don’t adhere to child labor laws, anti-sweatshop laws, or restricted substances laws, putting both workers and the environment at risk. Fundamental human rights of workers employed by counterfeiters, such as basic safety and health precautions, are often compromised or entirely ignored creating a work environment that is safe for no one.

Protect Yourself

The good news is that it’s pretty easy to tell the authentic SUPRAs from the counterfeit fakes. But before we jump into that, here’s some easy ways to avoid getting hustled.

1. To ensure you purchase only authentic SUPRA products, please remember that they can only be purchased at:
   • SUPRA Footwear Flagship stores and our official web site.
   • Authorized SUPRA Footwear retailers.
   • Authorized online SUPRA Footwear retailers.
2. Avoid websites that contain SUPRA anywhere in the domain name. If you are viewing SUPRA Footwear products online anywhere other than suprafootwear.com and the domain name includes “supra” or any variation of this word, or includes one of our style names in the domain address, e.g. “Skytop,” this product is certainly counterfeit.
3. Search engines (such as Google) do not screen Web sites that appear in their search results... LAME! Be cautious of Web sites that appear on the first pages of Google searches for “SUPRA” or similar keywords or search terms—only the official SUPRA Footwear Web site and its authorized retailers’ Web sites are trusted online sources for purchasing authentic SUPRA Footwear products.
4. SUPRA Footwear is not offered through individuals, street vendors, flea markets, and unauthorized retail locations.
5. Be cautious of purchasing what are advertised as SUPRA Footwear on eBay, and other auction websites. Authorized SUPRA Footwear retailers are not permitted to sell products on eBay trade boards, therefore the SUPRA products on auction sites is often counterfeit. Finding deeply discounted or cheap prices on these sites are often a good indication that a product is counterfeit. However, many counterfeiters are now charging full retail price to avoid detection from consumers.
6. If a deal seems too good to be true, question it - it usually is. The only way to ensure you get the quality and durability of genuine SUPRA Footwear is to go through one of our Authorized Retailers.

Some Specific Ways To Spot Fake SUPRA Footwear

• Starting with the boxes, the counterfeiters always use cheap cardboard and get the graphics wrong.
• As well as being made from cheap plastic instead of leather, fakes are often offered in colorways that SUPRA never produced. If they look cheap, or puffier than they should, they are counterfeit.
• Counterfeiters usually can’t afford to use real vulcanized soles, and then they actually paint the black stripes on the foxing by hand. Super ghetto.
• Pull out those soles. If you got some paper-thin cardboard insert instead of our cushy SUPRAFOAM, not only do your shoes look bad, your feet are going to hurt.

Report a counterfeiter

Below are some links to anti-counterfeit organizations and government agencies:

• International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition
• American Apparel & Footwear Association
• The Anti-Counterfeiting Group
• Consumer Direct
• Trading Standards Institute
• Fakes Are Never In Fashion
• US Customs and Border Protection

Known Counterfeit SUPRA Sites

• =Suspended Site

Counterfeit SUPRA Examples

Puffed out seams.

Looks more like a beer holder.

Smashed box.

Wrong design altogether.

Inferior leather, bad photography.

Hand-painted foxing.