Fake training shoes

[JonnyC]

Hi

I was in sham shui po yesterday afternoon looking at computer stuff, but I also wandered into a sports shop. They had some of the old school nike air max trainers so I decided to try some on as I've always liked the style and they were 719 dollars which is pretty cheap (at least where I'm from).
Well, on the heel part of nike trainers it usually says 'nike air' but when they brought these out for me to try on they had like a really badly embroidered pattern of an indian chief's head there instead of the nike logo. I tried them on but then noticed this and so told the assistant I thought the were fake and then left. Am I wrong here and do they have a different design in Asia? Or did I indeed get given a fake pair to try on and is this a widespread problem in HK?

Thanks

[freeier]

its probablly something call 'shui hua', literally translated 'water goods'.

what happen is, many of the nike production had been subcontracted out to china/asia factories. the factories produce more than were contracted by nike, and they then sell it into the market at a fraction of the price.

the original goods are usually sent back to the states for last bit of touching up (i.e. imprinting of the logo?) and the others they might intentionally print something else so as not to imfrindge the copyrights.

nevertheless, i'd think 700hkd for such a pair is on the high side. if you are talking about the really old school generation of air max, the original never cost more than 700hkd. so for such products i'd expect in the tune of 200~300hkd.

[JonnyC]

its probablly something call 'shui hua', literally translated 'water goods'.

what happen is, many of the nike production had been subcontracted out to china/asia factories. the factories produce more than were contracted by nike, and they then sell it into the market at a fraction of the price.

the original goods are usually sent back to the states for last bit of touching up (i.e. imprinting of the logo?) and the others they might intentionally print something else so as not to imfrindge the copyrights.

nevertheless, i'd think 700hkd for such a pair is on the high side. if you are talking about the really old school generation of air max, the original never cost more than 700hkd. so for such products i'd expect in the tune of 200~300hkd.

Thanks for the reply

Maybe 719 is expensive here (they had been reduced from about 850), but the trainers are usually about 85GBP in london so with 719 being just over 50GBP I was happy enough with the price (although it sounds like maybe it was too high now) just not the actual shoes when they brought them out. Indeed, if they are cast-offs then they should not be selling them at the official price and they should have been much cheaper. The guy just had a confused look on his face when I asked about the indian chief's logo (and it was really badly done, a 4 year old could do better) so there was no way I was buying something like that for that price.

Btw the actual trainers are the 1990 style air maxes here

http://www.pickyourshoes.com/size/nike_air_max_90.htm

[timh420]

The Air Max 90's you are speaking of are special editions (Premium LE Blue Ribbon Sports). I'm pretty sure you were just thrown off by the Indian head embroidery. I have to admit, it's not a very attractive sneaker, but I'm quite positive the ones you were looking at were not fake sneakers. If you want more Air Max 90's, you should try checking out Fa Yuen St in Mong Kok...known for all its sneaker stores (most of which are owned by the same company). BTW, 719 HKD for that particular shoe is the norm for most new Air Max 90's.... generally, it will cost you around 1000 HKD for older colorways.


These were the sneakers you saw, correct?
from eBay:

[JonnyC]

Yes they're the ones exactly, at least they aren't fake then. Ugly shoes though, I'm glad I didn't buy them without realising and then get home to find the indian head, I would have felt pretty stupid. I'm surprised nike choose to sell limited editions like that, they look very cheap and tacky IMO with that monstrosity on the heel.
Thanks for the tip about mongkok, I'll check it out on saturday, I really want a new pair of air maxes now
Cheers

[freeier]

8-) then my story doesn't work in such scenario...

i never konw the air max are seling at such premium now. during my time it was like maybe 500hkd max per pair..

[TulipGumLeaves]

If you want more Air Max 90's, you should try checking out Fa Yuen St in Mong Kok...known for all its sneaker stores (most of which are owned by the same company).

Are the shoes in these stores legit?

There appears to be quite a lot of sports stores in the one street which makes me feel like there is something dodgy going on.

Why are shoes there packed in Plastic?

My bf tried on a pair of soccer shoes and then decided that we would go to another store and look around. We walked into another store and asked for the shoe in his size. We were told to wait 5 minutes for them to get the shoe. We waited a minute and then decided we didnt couldn't be bothered and then left. As we were leaving I noticed the same guy from the store we were at previously bring in a box of shoes (which i presume were the same pair of shoes he had tried on before).

Strange... we then were feeling a bit unsure of the legitimacy of these stores.

The joys of experiencing cognitive dissonance...

[discobay]

Why are shoes there packed in Plastic?

To keep them clean from people coming in and handling them and so that they can be sold off when they have no stock left. The running around to other stores is normal as they either share storage or are part of the same business.