Hello! If you want to know how to spot the fake Air Jordan 1 Retro High Union Los Angeles sneakers, you found here the right place.
Since the popularity of the Air Jordan 1 Union LA sneakers keeps on growing, we’re here today with the most complete guide on how to legit check the Air Jordan 1 LA sneakers in order for it to be easier when you are authenticating these sneakers.
We’ve managed to put all of the things together into this article that contains the 15 most reliable spots to look at when checking the authenticity of the Air Jordan 1 Union Los Angeles sneakers.
All of the spots that we are going to look at apply on both of the Black Toe and the Blue Toe colourways of the Air Jordan 1 Union Los Angeles.
One last thing worth mentioning before we start is that we will refer to these sneakers just by Air Jordan 1 Union LA or AJ1 Union.
And remember, we have an authentication service as well — if the situation seems too complicated, we’re happy to help. At the same time, we work very hard to make these guides as simple to understand as possible.
Without any further ado, let’s jump into the real vs fake Air Jordan 1 Union LA guide.
To spot the fake Air Jordan 1 pair, you will need to closely inspect the text on the tongue tag. If the text is unclear, wavy (slanted) or too thin, then you’re looking at a fake — have a look at our fake vs real visual comparison below. Besides, inspect the Air Jordan logo for any inconsistency such as: overlapping elements, too much space between elements, uneven letters.
Because we said that this the best sign to check for the real vs fake Air Jordan 1 Union Los Angeles sneakers, we are going to check it out first, and then we will move to the exterior part of it.
First of all, you can easily notice how the fake Air Jordan 1 Union LA interior tongue tag has the “®” character next to the “SWOOSH” text looking too big and too thin. Even the circle looks too thin and big too.
Then, the second “®” character next to the second “SWOOSH” text is, again, too thin and too big.
Also, you may have noticed how the fake Air Jordan 1 Union LA pair has the whole interior tongue tag text looking a lot thinner and bigger than it has to.
Again, this may be visible even on the “MADE IN CHINA” text, since the fake pair has the same flaws.
Now let’s take a look at another comparison and spot the differences from the real vs fake AJ1 Union LA pairs.
This time we’ve compared two of the Black Toe pairs and we spotted the fact that the fake pair has similar flaws from the other pair.
In fact, you can easily notice how the fake pair has the whole tongue tag text looking a lot less understandable because of the size; the fake text is too small.
This may be the most visible on the “MADE IN CHINA” text on the second last line of text to the bottom of the tag.
The fake word “CHINA” is a lot thinner than it has to be, and the authentic text is visibly thicker.
Now that you know how to legit check the interior side of the tongue tag, let’s take you to the exterior and let you know how to check the fake pairs by looking at the exterior side too.
Since this is a really simple tongue tag on the exterior side, we’ve spotted just one main problem, and that is the Nike Swoosh logo.
On the blue colourway, we have the Swoosh too curved on the fake sneakers.
The authentic Swoosh is smooth, while the fake pair has the Swoosh curved too much out of a sudden.
Now it is the time to move on to the white exterior “NIKE” tongue tag and analyze the flaws on the fake pair.
As you can see, the fake Air Jordan 1 Union Los Angeles exterior “NIKE” tongue tag has too much empty space from the letter “I” in the word “AIR” to the Nike Swoosh logo.
On the other hand, the legit pair has less distance between these two elements.
Also, even the whole word “AIR” looks too boxy on the fake pair, and the authentic text is looking less wide as the fake text.
Speaking of the shoe’s construction, we need to have a look from the rear for this following flaw on the fake AIr Jordan 1 Union LA
It’s been commonly nicknamed as the “hourglass shape” tell and it’s easier for us to explain it visually with a comparison.
You may have already spotted the differences from the left authentic and the right fake pairs, but let us also draw these lines on top of the comparison to make you understand better.
As you can see, the fake Air Jordan 1 Union is almost straight when it comes to this angle’s view. On the other hand, the original AJ1 is curving in two places: above and below the medial line with the middle patch.
Below the medial line, keep in mind that the sneaker has to have almost a bell-shaped bottom in order for it to be authentic.
Please note that this flaw is hard to spot when wearing the Jordans but it must be a dead giveaway for a fake.
Top-tier replicas sometimes get this thing right so it’s not the most reliable tell. Nonetheless, it might save you minutes when authenticating since the large majority of fakes are not from the top-tier category.
Now let’s move on to the side of the sneakers and analyze the Air Jordan logo. First of all, we will start with the logo itself and then we will look at the spacing between the wings on the logo too.
As you will see in the pictures below, fake manufacturers manage to replicate 90 to 98% of the logo right, but there are some shortcomings.
First of all, you can notice how the last wing on the left side of the fake Air Jordan 1 Union photo makes contact with the stitching.
On the other hand, the legit pair doesn’t have this wing taking contact with the stitching on the left side.
Then, moving to the “AIR JORDAN” text, you can notice how the fake pair has this text looking hardly noticeable thinner than the text on the legit pair.
You can notice the thickness problem in the word “AIR”, on the letter “A” as its left leg is a bit thinner than it has to be.
Also, in here you’ll notice it on the letter “R” because the top of the letter is too thin on the fake pair.
In the word “JORDAN” you can spot this flaw on the fake pairs especially on the letters “J” and “D”.
As for the letter “O” in the word “JORDAN”, it is noticeable how the authentic Air Jordan 1 Union has this letter crossed by the stitching above the Air Jordan logo, and on the other hand, the fake pair doesn’t.
The stitching has to cross above the letter “O”.
Lastly in here, the replica Air Jordan 1 Union pair has its “™” text looking too thick as it isn’t understandable to read at all. Meanwhile, the legit “™” is thinner.
Now let’s also take a quick look at the spacing between the wings of the Air Jordan logo.
We would like to mention the same flaw from the Air Jordan text here too. Where is the first wing on the left side of the Air Jordan logo, there is some stitching crossing over this wing.
On the authentic Air Jordan 1 Union pair, you can notice how the wing is positioned as there it continues more even after the stitching crosses the wing.
On the fake pair, there is a really small part of the wing after the part where the stitching makes contact with the wing.
Also, we have highlighted the rest of the wings having more space than it should be between the wings.
Something replica creators seem to not get right is the overall shape of the sneaker, making it too bulky. Let’s have a look at this real vs fake Jordan 1 Union shape comparison below:
The main flaw of the fake Air Jordan 1 Union pair is that the sneakers are too bulky and less curved.
What we mean is that, on the rear side of the shoes, the fake pair is less curve but sharper than it has to be. The authentic pair is curvier and smoother.
Then, on the toe box, the same flaw applies here too. The fake pair is less curvy than the authentic one and it is more swollen and fat. Also, the legit pair is smoothly curvier.
Let’s have a look at another real vs fake Air Jordan 1 Union comparison for the toe box too.
It is really visible in the real vs fake Air Jordan 1 Union pictures above how on the fake pair, the toe box is, again, too swollen and on the bottom side of it, it isn’t as curved as it has to be.
Keep in mind that the bottom side of the toe box can be either too curved or less curved than it has to be on the replica Air Jordan 1 Union too.
We have pointed out again how the fake Air Jordan 1 Union pair has the rear heel side less curved and more straighten than it has to be.
Because we were still talking about the toe box, let’s also analyze the holes in the toe box too. First, let’s have a look at the real vs fake Air Jordan 1 Union comparison pictures:
On the fake pair, the toe box holes are smaller than the holes on the authentic pair, and the holes from around the toe box seem to be less deep than the legit holes.
Now it is time for us to proceed to the Nike Swoosh logo comparison and analyze the flaws on the fake Air Jordan 1 Union.
We are going to start with the form of the Swoosh, then the placement and the thickness.
First of all, the fake Air Jordan 1 Union has the top tip of the Swoosh looking too sharp.
On the other hand, the legit Air Jordan 1 Union has the tip of the Swoosh looking bulkier and less sharp.
Now that you took a look at the form of the Swoosh, let’s get you to the placement of the real vs fake Air Jordan 1 Union Swooshes.
As you can see, the size of the Swoosh influences the placement of the Swoosh logo.
We have drawn the green line showing the distance between the legit Swoosh and the midsole, and the red line showing the same thing for the fake shoes.
Because of the lines, it is really easy to notice how the fake pair has too much distance from the Swoosh to the midsole, and the legit pair has less distance.
Let’s also have a look at the real vs fake Air Jordan 1 Union Swoosh thickness.
We have pointed out the fact that the replica Air Jordan 1 Union pair has the Swoosh looking too curvy and arched at the edges of it, and it automatically makes the fake Swoosh look too thick. Meanwhile, the legit pair is exactly the opposite.
Because we left off at the Swoosh, let’s also go a bit above the Swoosh and let’s analyze the stitching.
The fake Air Jordan 1 Union stitching goes too close to the Nike Swoosh logo, and the real pair has the stitching a bit distanced from the Swoosh.
This is a flaw that you can spot with the naked eye on the fake Air Jordan 1 Union pairs.
Now let’s move a bit to the Union Los Angeles “UN/LA” logo tab and let’s analyze it on both the real vs fake Air Jordan 1 Union sneakers.
As you can see in the fake vs real Air Jordan 1 Union pictures above, the fake AJ1 Union pair has the “UN/LA” patch different in terms of quality.
First of all, you’ll notice how the letter “U” is curved too much out of a sudden at the bottom left corner, and it basically narrows in that area.
On the other hand, the legit pair has the letter “U” the same size everywhere, with no narrowing.
Going to the letter “L”, it is visible how this character misses some stitches on the bottom horizontal stick, and on the real one, there is stitching covering the whole letters, especially on the “L”.
Since we were this close to the “UN/LA” patch, let’s go a little lower below it and let’s see the Air Jordan 1 Union real vs fake blue and yellow stitching.
The yellow (Black Toe) and blue (Blue Toe) coloured stitching has a narrowing below the “UN/LA” text, which seems like the fake Air Jordan 1 Union are missing it.
In this narrowing on the authentic pair, there is more stitching in one place, and on the fake pair, there is poorer quality in terms of stitching, since there isn’t the same density that has to be.
The same thing happens on the left side, below the “UN/LA” text, where there’s some “stacked” stitching, and the fake pairs have fewer strings stitched in there.
Also, they seem to be too wide too on the fake pair because there is too much space between the stitches on the left side.
On the right side of the picture, the stitching has the same problem. If you take a look at the authentic pair, you can notice how there is more stitching at once, and on the fake pair, there are fewer stitches.
For the eleventh step of the real vs fake Air Jordan 1 Union guide, we’re going to quickly analyze the rear side patch where the Swooshes meet.
Where the Swooshes from both of the interior and exterior sides merge, there’s a patch in which they merge properly.
The flaw on the fake Air Jordan 1 sneakers is that they have that patch smaller or larger than needed. In our case, the patch is too big in height, and the authentic one is smaller.
For this step of the Air Jordan 1 Union Los Angeles authenticity check process, you’ll have to flip your sneakers t the rear sole side.
The stars on the edges of the fake Air Jordan 1 Union soles don’t actually look like stars, and in fact, they look more like some dots.
On the other hand, the legit Air Jordan 1 Union LA pair has the stars on the sole looking sharp and visible as stars.
We would like to mention that this step applies mostly just for the unworn shoes or shoes that have been kept in great condition, maybe just tried on once.
For the thirteenth step of the authenticity check process, you’ll have to go inside your Air Jordan 1 Union LA sneakers and analyze the insoles on both the left and the right shoes.
This may not seem like a really simple insole model, but in reality, it is very simple to check these.
Basically, the fake Air Jordan 1 Union insoles look too grey instead of black. Besides, the fake insoles look less opaque.
On the other hand, the legit Air Jordan 1 Union LA insoles look flawless and opaque as needed.
Again, pretty much the same flaws from the left shoe’s insole apply on the right shoe’s insole too.
On the upper side, we’ve pointed out the fact that the fake Air Jordan 1 insole looks less visible than the legit one.
On the bottom side, we’ve pointed out the fact that the word “UNION” is visibly smaller than the one on the legit pair.
As for the last step inside the sneakers, let’s also analyze the simple size tag on the AJ1 Union sneakers.
Basically, because this the same simple usual size tag, we’ve got the base problem this time too.
Usually, the fake Air Jordan 1 Unions will have the “BV1300-146” looking too thin or too thick.
In our case, the fake AJ1 Union has the “BV1300-146” printed text looking too thin, and the authentic text looks thicker.
As for the fifteenth and the last step of the Air Jordan 1 Union Los Angeles real vs fake guide, we’re going to quickly look at the box label.
The distance between the number that indicates the size, and in our case it is the“8” and the “5″, is usually too small on the fake box labels, and this is visible in this comparison above too.
In the word “Suggested” at the bottom right corner, the “S” character is too thick on the fake box label, and on the real one, it is thinner.
Where it says “$190.00” on the top right corner, the specific text is too thin and more squared on the fake box label. The authentic box label is exactly the opposite.
Where it says “NRG/UN” on the box, there is less space between the “NRG” text, the slash and the “UN” text on the fake box. As always, the legit pair won’t be like this.
The fifteen fake vs real Air Jordan 1 Union Los Angeles steps outlined above are well detailed and it will be time demanding to perform each authentication step when you need to confirm the originality of your Union’s.
That is why we have compiled this quick 60 seconds solution to authenticating your Air Jordan 1 Union LA sneakers. Below are the top 15 indicators that can help you determine if you have a fake pair of Air Jordan 1 Union Los Angeles or the real deal.
If you need help with the authentication of your Air Jordan 1 Union Los Angeles sneakers, we’ve got you covered.
All you have to do is send us good-quality pictures of your Air Jordan 1 Union Los Angeles and we will get back to you with the results within 24 to 48 hours. The results will also come with a report on why we believe your sneakers are fake or authentic.
That brings us to the end of our real vs fake Air Jordan 1 Union LA guide. We will continue to update this article as better and newer comparisons are put out.
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Thank you for reading this,
Ch Daniel and Ch David
