Dupes or duplicated products are all over now, whether it is perfume, clothes, footwear, or food. You will find that smaller or cheaper branded shops sell items that are so convincing people will choose them over the name brand to save themselves money.
However, if you were given something and told that you had been given an official branded item, how would you know if you had a real item or a dupe?
Perfume
You will often find, with perfume, that when you have a dupe, it does not last as long; however, this is not always the case. One of the only ways to determine if your product is real is to spray it next to the original.
Many companies can make dupes of high-value perfumes, such as Jimmy Choo, because they alter the recipe slightly, adding more of one ingredient than another. As previously mentioned, this often makes the dupe less likely to last as long or less potent than the original.
This means that you can get a very similar perfume and not know if it is fake until you have the two side by side. The two would be in different bottles and usually with different names, but some people may try to change bottles and pass off a dupe as real.
When buying expensive designer perfume, it is always best to go to a well-known retail store and purchase from a company you can trust.
Clothes And Footwear
With clothes and footwear, telling a fake can be even harder. So many people have gotten good at recreating designer brands like Nike to make clothes and shoes harder to spot. How to spot fake Nikes may be harder than you think, but there are some simple steps you can take when buying online to ensure that your Nikes are real.
First, check the box; this may seem like an odd step; if people are going to pass shoes off as a real brand, they may be using real boxes. But checking the boxes for extra wear or damage could show whether the shoes inside actually belong there. If the box has different colors or things just look slightly off, it is best to leave it be.
Check the seller; this is probably one of the easiest steps you could take for any purchase. Buy from an authorized registered seller, this is someone who has been known and is verified as a seller of real items. This may seem like such a simple step, but it is one many people fail to take when they see a deal that is too good to be true.
With clothing and footwear, checking tags and holograms if the designer is known to have them is also a good idea. Many dupes in the fashion world will fail to copy these perfectly making it easier to spot a fake.
Summary
Dupes can be a fantastic way to save yourself money if you do not mind that things are not the same or you do not care about designer brands.
However, if you love your designers and you get caught out buying a dupe, this could be heartbreaking if you think you have gotten the deal of the year. Take some time and make some basic checks, and you can decide if you want a dupe or the real thing.
