Fake Friday: Factory Price Footwear
It's been a while since we exposed a store selling fake sneakers as authentic and scamming customers in the process. But the streets do need a clean often so here we are with our Fake Friday series. This week we look at Factory Price Footwear, a store with a decent online following but with so many red flags you'll have to hold back your laughter.
As the name suggests, the prices of the fake sneakers sold by the store are extremely low. Like ridiculously low. A Jordan 1 x Travis Scott retailed for about R3k (if you were lucky enough to get them for that, which; let’s face it, no one was for this release). Factory Price, on the other hand, has the hook up at R1200 and has unlimited stock. How? Well, the store tries to fool people into believing these pairs are legit but come directly from the factory - meaning they cut out the middlemen and keep costs low. They also claim the fact that they have a small team and no physical store means they have the best prices.
These lies are at the heart of the scam store which even has ‘factory’ in its brand name. It’s simply NOT TRUE. The shoes are cheap because they are fake/replicas. They have unlimited supply because replica manufacturers do not limit production numbers like legit brands. They do not supply legit stores as they claim, they are scammers that hide anonymously online with no physical address. Any images that look authentic are stolen from legit sources and the images of the shoes are delivered to customers, well... let’s take a look at that next.
Factory Price Footwear has a highlight on their IG page called “quality check.” This is where they post some photos of their stock in hand for customers to see the quality and be convinced to hand over their hard-earned cash. Take a look below and tell us what you think. Peep the Jordan 1 with ‘Basketball’ in the Wings Logo, the Mickey Mouse x Yeezy Slides or even some Jordan 1s so warped they look more like the Wavy Vans. And this is just showing off a few.
The highlight section on their IG is meant to convince possible victims of their premium quality sneakers, but just looking at these pictures will show you the sellers have dealt with fake for so long, that they don’t even know what legit looks like anymore. They play themselves hard with the quality check highlights but we are so happy to expose it. And if you aren't happy with your purchase? Tough luck. The store states NO REFUNDS in their bio on Instagram meaning once you hand over your cash, it's theirs for good. You could buy an item that looks good in their pictures, but the delivered item is completely different in quality. And there would be nothing you could do to get your money back.
Lastly, their online store. Does this look like an official store to you? Clearly stolen images with no common theme, the menu doesn’t even work, no mention of payment options and their ‘About Us’ just reads ‘Top Tier Sneaker Outlet’. As we have pointed out in previous Fake Fridays, “a legit looking” store can be just as fake as a badly made one. We should never just judge a store on the face value of its webstore. However, Factory Price Footwear’s low effort website combined with laughable prices of extremely rare sneakers makes this a store we recommend you avoid at all costs if you’re looking for authentic sneakers. The red flags are stacked so high with this one. STAY AWAY FROM FACTORY PRICE FOOTWEAR.
Shelflife Weekly Tip
Fake stores that justify their low prices with low overheads (staff, rent) and direct factory access are not to be trusted. You need an official account with brands like Nike and adidas to receive stock from their factories which these stores do not have. Recommend Selling Prices (RSPs) are set by brands and this is why official stores have similar prices for the same shoes.
Glossary:
Reps - Replicas of authentic sneakers not produced in official brand factories.