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You are in the right place if you wish to know how to spot the fake vs real Nike Air Force 1 AF1 sneakers.
In fact, we are here today to teach you how to spot fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers in seven simple steps with our ultimate guide.
Before everything, we would like to mention that this real vs fake Nike Air Force 1 guide applies to almost every colourway of the Nike Air Force 1 sneakers.
Now that you’ve got the main idea of what we are about to talk about today, let’s get to the seven steps on how to spot fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers.
In the world of Sneakers, few shoes are as prominent as the Nike Air Force 1s. Nike’s seminal basketball shoe from 1982 has become an icon of the sneaker industry, and is easily one of Nike’s most recognizable models.
However, modern collectable sneakers are unfortunately the perfect target for counterfeiting. As sneakers are incredibly valuable and collectable, they’re the perfect target for counterfeiters to make a quick profit on. This is why it’s crucial to ensure you know how to check if yours are real vs fake Air Force 1s.
At LegitCheck, we believe that anyone acquiring collectables should know how to spot the real from the fake. That’s why in this article, we’re going to show you how to spot fake Air Force 1s.
Nike Air Force 1s are an iconic pair of sneakers created by Nike in 1982. They were the first Nike Basketball shoe to use the ‘Nike Air’ technology and preceded the ever-popular Nike AirMaxes.
These shoes are adored by resellers and collectors and have become an icon for the ‘Sneakerhead’ community due to the ubiquitous nature of the shoe. With Nike’s huge range of Air Force 1 variation, their resale value can vary anywhere from $100 to $10,000.
The original shoe isn’t as valuable as other Nike products due to the sheer volume produced throughout its original run. However, expensive variants such as the Playstation Air Force 1 Lows, can command asking prices upwards of $20,000.
Even if you’re buying on the cheaper end of collectable shoes, you still want to make sure that what you’re buying is legit. After all, nobody likes being ripped off, and fake Air Force 1s aren’t going to be as high quality or durable as the real deal.
Sneaker counterfeiting is getting out of hand. Not only are fake Air Force 1s flooding the market, but they’re getting much harder to spot.
This is especially true of the Air Force range, as there are multiple iterations of the sneaker. . This is why it’s crucial to ensure that you’ve got the knowledge to know if your sneakers are the real deal or not, or at least have access to a professional authentication service that can do all of that for you, like LegitCheck.
At LegitCheck, we want to help you make sure that every product you’re buying is the real deal. Modern scams and fakes make it quite risky to buy products online.
Our service helps get rid of that worry. We offer a fast and expert authentication service, with which you can ensure that your collectable goods are real. We can even issue a forgery-proof Certificate of Authenticity or provide proof of non-authenticity if you want to fight for a refund.
In any case, making sure that you LegitCheck Air Force 1s as soon as you get them is crucial. Realising you have fake sneakers too late might make it difficult to get a refund from the vendor or seller you brought from.
If you’re worried about purchasing fake goods or you don’t want to authenticate them, buying from Nike or a trusted reseller is a great way to ensure that the goods that you’re getting are real. You should still legit check every pair of sneakers you purchase, even from trusted sellers. Fakes can still fall through the cracks, so it’s always best to make sure.
For a quicker answer, the fastest way to spot fake Nike Air Force 1 is to inspect the stitching and the Nike AIR text on the rear side of the sneakers, as the rear side of the Nike AF1 sneakers is the most flawed of the whole sneakers in almost every case of fake AF1 pairs.
Also, we have a list at the bottom of this article on how to spot fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers with all of the spots that we will look at during this article, but at the bottom, it is all shortened with the main idea of every step.
Until that time, let’s see the steps on how to spot fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers.
We have mentioned it above enough times, but it’s never enough when it comes to this type of information, so let us say it again:
The rear side of the Nike Air Force 1 sneakers is almost every time the best spot to look at in order to spot fake Nike Air Force 1 pairs.
First of all, let’s have a quick look at the Nike Air Force 1 real vs fake images, and then, let us explain the flaws of the counterfeit Nike Air Force 1 pair.
The real vs fake Nike Air Force 1 image above may seem complicated because of the amount of hand-emoji pointers that we used, but it really isn’t.
Beginning with the Nike Swoosh logo below the “NIKE” text, you can see how, on the fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers, the Nike Swoosh logo is a lot longer than the logo on the authentic pair.
This can be visible by looking at the rear side of the Nike Swoosh logo, where we have placed a hand-emoji pointer. On the authentic sneakers, you can see how the Swoosh is looking smaller.
Moving a bit lower from the Swoosh logo, you’ll have to inspect the “A I R” text. Most of the time, the fake Nike Air Force 1 pairs will have the “A I R” text looking either too thick or too thin.
In this case, you can see how the fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers have their “A I R” text looking a lot thinner and somewhat longer than the “A I R” print on the authentic sneakers.
Also, the counterfeit Nike Air Force 1 pair’s “A I R” text is placed too high on the sneakers, as it almost makes contact with the Swoosh logo above, and that’s something which you will never meet on an authentic Nike Air Force 1 pair.
Going to the edge of the patch where the previously inspected elements are placed, you can see how the stitching on the middle side of the sneakers is looking less dense on the fake Nike Air Force 1 sneaker.
On the other hand, on the legit pairs, the stitching is actually looking denser and it chants more quality.
As a side factor of the stitching, the fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers have their stitching looking shorter than the lines of stitching on the legit Nike Air Force 1 pairs.
Lastly, for the rear side of the real vs fake Nike Air Force 1, we’ll have to move even lower, and that’s exactly on the midsole.
As you may see, there are lines of stitching on the midsole of the AF1 sneakers that fit into the midsole of both the real vs fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers.
The problem with the fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers’ midsole stitching is that most of the time, they have their stitching lines looking a lot longer, thinner and fit into the sneakers than they have to be, as on the legit sneakers.
The authentic Nike Air Force 1 sneakers’ midsole stitching obviously has a better quality.
Now that you know how to spot fake Nike Air Force 1 pair from the rear side, let’s move on to the second step of the Nike AF1 fake vs real guide.
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As for the second step of the guide on how to legit check Nike Air Force 1 sneakers, you will have to go inside the sneakers and inspect the text printed on the size tag.
Let us show you the fake vs real Nike Air Force 1 images in order to understand this in an easier way:
Now that you had a look at the real vs fake Air Force 1 legit check guide, let us explain the flaws of the fake Air Force 1:
1 – The “VF” text (top right corner)
This print may differ from one pair to another, but in this case, both the real vs fake Air Force 1 sneakers have the “VF” print.
Most of the time, the print on the top right corner will be too thin on the fake sneakers, and on the authentic ones, it is always looking a lot thicker.
2 – The “BR” print on the left side
Moving to the left side of the size tag, you will have to check the “BR” print. Usually, the “BR” print is going to look the same as the “VF” text, and that is too thin.
Most of the time, the “BR” text will look too thin, but it can also be too thick. If you’re undecided whether the text looks too thick or too thin on your AF1 sneakers, we recommend you refer to our real vs fake Air Force 1 images.
3 – The country of producing text
In this case, both the fake vs real Air Force 1 sneakers are made in Vietnam, so the text is the same one on both the real vs fake Air Force Ones.
You can see in the real vs fake Air Force 1 image above how the fake “FABRIQUE EN VIETNAM” text seems thinner than the text on the legit pairs.
Check out these other Nike legit check guides: Air Max 97, Air Max 90.
As for the third step of the fake vs real Air Force 1 guide, we are going to move to the side of the Nike sneakers, and we have to quickly analyse the shape of the Swoosh logo.
In the fake vs real Nike Air Force 1 image above, we have pointed out two main flaws of the fake Air Force 1 sneakers.
Most of the time, the counterfeit Nike Air Force 1 sneakers will have their Nike Swoosh logo looking different at the frontal curving.
We drew a green line for the authentic Nike Air Force 1 sneakers in order to point out the correct shape of the Swoosh logo, and for the fake Air Force 1 sneakers, we used a red line to show you the shape of the replica Swoosh.
In fact, the fake Air Force 1 pairs will have their Swoosh logo’s curving looking more of a sudden, while the authentic Swoosh’s curving goes more “natural” and smoother.
This curving problem on the fake Nike Air Force 1 pairs makes their Swoosh logo look higher at the top of it, while the authentic Nike sneakers always had and will always have the correct pattern, just as in the image above.
Then, on the rear side of the Nike Swoosh logo, the problem is exactly reversed from the side of the logo.
In fact, on the rear side of the Nike Swoosh logo, you can see how the fake Nike AF1 pair’s Swoosh is placed further away from the sock liner of the sneakers, and how on the authentic sneakers, the Swoosh is placed a lot closer to the sock liner of the shoes.
If you are looking for a guide on how to spot fake Off-White Nike Air Force 1 sneakers, we also have unique guides for every colourway, and you can check them all out by clicking here.
As for the fourth step of the fake vs real Nike Air Force 1 legit check guide, we are going to inspect the placement of the two holes on the side of the sneakers on both the real vs fake Nike AF1 pairs.
In the fake vs real Nike Air Force 1 image above, we have pointed out how, on the fake sneakers, the two perforations on the side of the shoes are placed a lot lower than they have to be.
On the authentic sneakers, you can see how the two holes on the side are placed a lot higher than the holes on the fake Nike Air Force 1 pair.
Most commonly, the fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers will have their holes placed too close to the midsole, just as the ones on the fake vs real Nike Air Force 1 image above.
The two holes on the side of the authentic Nike Air Force 1 pairs will never be placed as the ones on the counterfeit shoes.
The steps we’ve written so far are the best ways to authenticate this item.
The next few steps are still reliable signs of authenticity but are for non-top-versions of replicas available for this item. We recommend sticking to the steps we’ve explained above to make sure you’re not drawing the wrong conclusions.
For the fifth step of the fake vs real Nike Air Force 1 legit check guide, we will stay still on the side of the sneakers, but this time, looking to the front of the sneakers, we have to check how the toe box looks.
Basically, what we call the “toe box” is the area in which your toes fit inside the sneakers. Most of the time, the fake toe box area on the Air Force 1 sneakers is either too big (over-inflated) or too small.
Not only for the Nike Air Force 1 sneakers but for pretty much every fake pair of sneakers, the toe box is a common flaw.
In the Nike Air Force 1 real vs fake image above, we have pointed out how the counterfeit AF1 pair’s toe box is looking a lot curvier and lifted up, while the authentic Nike sneakers’ toe box is looking lower and less inflated.
To make it clear, almost every time, the fake sneakers’ toe box will look over-inflated, which means that the fake shoes look too arched and curvy on the frontal area, while the authentic Nike AF1 sneakers look less arched and curvy.
If you’re not sure whether you’ve got fake Nikes, we’re here to help you decide.
Our expert Nike authentications team is 24/7 at your service!
For the sixth step in this guide on how to spot fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers, you will have to flip your sneakers to the frontal area, but from a top-down view, in order to inspect them in a better way.
Let us give you a visual of this with the real vs fake Nike Air Force 1 image below:
As you can see, not only are these holes too big or too small (and in this case, too small) but they sometimes come in different shapes and sizes on the counterfeit Air Force 1 pairs.
Besides, the fake Air Force 1 sneakers’ perforations seem to be in most of the cases not fully perforated, thus revealing lower quality manufacturing equipment.
As for the seventh step of the guide on how to spot fake Nike Air Force 1 sneakers, you will have to move from the sneakers to the box, and verify the label glued on the box.
As you can see in the real vs fake Air Force 1 image above, the counterfeit Air Force 1’s box label has the “AIR FORCE 1 ’07” text looking a lot thicker than the text on the legit label.
We would like to mention that the box label will never have scratches or worn-out issues if it wasn’t damaged already. So, this flaw applies only to the brand new boxes.
Lastly, the colour of the box label will never be as dark grey as the one on the fake label. The authentic box label has to be coloured as light grey, as the authentic Air Force 1’s box label.
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Nike has factories all over the place. The most common place for AF1s to be made in China, and also Vietnam. Check your shoe’s size tag to see where it’s made!
Air Force 1s are 100% true to size. For instance, if you wear shoes in size US10 on the regular, then the US10 Nike Air Force 1s will definitely fit you right.
Nike’s Air Force 1 is one of the most comfortable pairs of sneakers. You can wear them for a whole day of walking, and your feet are going to be fine. Besides, they’re also really stylish!
There are situations where you may be unable to go through each detailed step explained above when you need to authenticate your Nike Air Force 1 sneakers.
That is why we have compiled this quick 60-second solution to authenticating your sneakers. Below are the top 7 indicators that can help you determine if you have a fake pair of sneakers or original Nike-manufactured Air Force 1s.
If you’re still unsure about the authenticity of your Air Force 1s, get in touch with LegitCheck! Our quick service is a great way to be sure whether your shoes are real or fake, and is as simple as sending a few pictures.
Authenticating your collectable sneakers is crucial to ensuring that you’re getting the product that you paid for. Whether to wear or to resell later on, you want to make sure your collectable goods are real.
LegitCheck is the best authentication service to ensure that your Air Force 1s and other collectables are genuine without stress and hassle. Our expert team will verify your goods and ensure that they’re all legitimate.
Our service is even able to issue a certificate of authenticity – this is great for reselling later on!
If you’re an avid collector, the LegitCheck Club gives you more bang for your buck, with extra benefits and perks. You’ll be able to save money throughout our site and even have one free streetwear authentication per month.
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Thank you for reading this,
Ch Daniel and Ch David
