How Knockoffs Became SO Popular

If you’ve been around awhile like myself you probably remember a time when buying knock-off items was a big fashion no no, so we wanted to know when and how it became cool to purchase cheap knock-offs. Have we been duped into buying dupes?

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Script: Caroline Eaton Pickard
Editor: Reid Valaitis
Lead Editor: Kirsten Stanley
Project Manager: Lurana McClure Rodríguez
Host: Levi Hildebrand

[fennecfoxfanatic]

What i hate is that most of my local 2nd hand stores are now FULL of shein and low quality crap. Going to vintage resell shops is way too expensive

[Northwest]

That Dupe philosophy was so ridiculous, “I reject big brands but still follow their trends” the actual cool thing to do is express your individuality

[The_LadyAJ]

Dupe is more commonly used term in makeup and perfume. Like "this cheap eyeliner has a similar formula to and works just as well as that really expensive one." In that case, it's not a product being made to copy another at all. It just happens to work out like that.

[Artofcarissa]

I feel like pre recession a lot more people were judgmental of those who couldn’t afford designer clothing and bags, but after the 08 recession and also during the covid 19 pandemic, less people can afford the real deal and now it’s more about saving money than being able to afford designer shit

[ThompterSHunson]

I have my best friend living in China for 12 years now and a couple years ago he discovered a knockoff factory for designer bags in which the guys were taking the same leathers, zippers, and everything from the same producers as, for example, Louis Vuitton does. Their knockoffs are practically indistinguishable from the originals. We've brought a couple (paid $250 a pop, from the factory! Super expensive for a knockoff product) and gave them to some women with huge experience in this stuff and they were shocked. 100% same as the originals.

[JoelReid]

Just to point out: UGGs themselves are technically a dupe of Uggboots, an Australian fashion item that was sold simply as "Uggboots". They simply put a label on it and sold it in America, even their brand name was a dupe of the name "uggboots". The name for the fashion item came before the brand name!

[JanaGirl]

Once more sustainable brands start making clothing in my size (tall, size 16, shoe 12) I'm all in. But most more ethical brands tend to ignore people like me exsist. Fast fashion brands and learning to sew are really my only options for everyday clothes.

[usainengland]

Greed is what is going on. Workers can’t afford the designer prices. Thus the success of Shein and Wish. It’s a race to the bottom.

[latristessdurera]

I’m so glad that I don’t care for fashion trends, it just makes life so much more easier to endure.

[WilliamHornstra]

Just a note, the UGG example is a bad example. UGG is a generic term for a style of shoe. It's just that Deckers outdoor products gained a monopoly on the trademark. So much so that the original Australian manufacturers can't sell their goods outside of their own country

[SloanJ]

Has this channel ever done an episode about charcoal products like facial masks and toothpaste? Knowing how well you guys research all this stuff, I'm extremely curious to know if it's effective, but more importantly safe to use/consume.

[VanillaMacaron]

I think you said "when ugg boots first came out" or similar - when would that be, sonny? Because I was wearing them here in Australia in the 1970s. Every roadside barn through Australia's woolgrowing regions sold them, unbranded, unlabelled. Then a Yank company decided to trademark the name and concept and when challenged in court, they won. The court accepted uggs were a generic product in Australia so the company (I thought it was Teva?) couldn't have sole rights to them here, but they won international rights to the name and product. Now that's a rip-off!

[sailorbrite]

And then there’s me, I have no idea about most fashion so if I went to Amazon and bought a pair of shoes that were a dupe of famous shoes I likely wouldn’t know it.

[tillie_brn]

The argument that "by buying dupes you're not supporting the shitty designer brands" is so weird to me lmao. So you're replacing a shitty designer brand with a shitty fast fashion brand, wow 😂 How about we just don't buy anything...

[estherbraga]

I just had to thank you for including the Schmidt's "Youths" video. I love this moment and everytime he says it. I would literally use it everytime if I could and met anyone else who had seen it. I am an old lady in my 30's, so... And please, make the bucket hats end already😄

[kimberleyjanemcnab]

I really wish that the fashion of repairing better quality clothing would come back mainstream. I have been purchasing better quality items for the past few years and last year I only purchased a couple of items. I hope to purchase next to nothing this year!

[idraote]

In Italy, in the 50s, women were just as vain as they are today, but money was short.
A lower middle-class working woman like my mother would have one single skirt suit for important events, three or four skirts, four shirts, two or three jumpers. One heavy coat and a medium weight coat for spring/autumn. Three pair of shoes and a single handbag.
All of that could be held in a two-door wardrobe with two drawers for underwear and tights.
That was normal. Even with a long-term job, you could afford little more than that.

Today I hear people always complaining about having no money and yet their wardrobes are bursting with low quality outfits.

P.S. most of those garments were made by a seamstress who would make sure that those few garments my mother could afford would suit her body shape to perfection. My mother used to have an excellent deportment and most of the times she looked like a model in those bespoke outfits.

[Faustvonholle]

So yes, fast fashion is bad. Cheap dupes are generally bad too. However, the argument here seems to be that dupes and knockoffs aren't actually putting a dent in billionaires' pockets, and the only reason you suggest that people buy dupes is to "fit in" or look cool, and I don't think that's true either. Many of these "dupe" brands don't only sell dupes, or they're not obvious as dupes. If I buy jeans on Shein because I need pants and they look good, knowing that they're Levi's dupes doesn't matter, being dupes or not doesn't really matter- you still need to wear clothes. Buying $20 pants from Walmart instead of buying from Shein because they make dupes doesn't even matter. The fact is, we're at a point in society where the wealth gap is so large that the affordable products for people are often made under bad worker conditions using cheap materials that are bad for the environment.

Yes, reducing consumption is the ideal here, but that can only go so far. At some point, most people are going to have to buy new clothes because theirs either don't fit or are worn out and they can't mend them, and the budget options are rarely if ever ethical. Without the ability to buy longer-lasting quality pieces because they cost significantly more, these brands are going to exist and thrive. We can't fix this unless we fix the wealth inequality first.

[Mamo-Real]

Dupes/reps/knockoffs (imo) became popular because people realized you can get a 1:1 copy for x100 less and no one’s going to know…there’s so many websites to get 1:1 jackets, bags or shoes and their made in different factories yes but their made with the same materials and there’s dupes that are a little more, a couple hundred and are exactly the same down to ever stitch

[s.s]

my honest thought was that it's too expensive for people to buy the real thing - so they buy dupes instead. it's a fair point that people actively seek out the trends, whilst holding disdain towards the luxury brands too.