NEW!
The University Gold is another vibrant and awesome colourway added to the Nike x Off-White Air Force 1 collection.
We’ve always known the Nike x Off-White collaboration to release precious models and colourways of sneakers, and the University Gold AF1 is the very first yellow colourway added to this line.
These shoes were rumoured to drop for a very long time, and since they’ve finally dropped, they are a really sought-after pair, and as nice as they are, these yellow Off-Whites have a lot of replicas on the market.
We get how it is annoying not knowing which is the real and which is the fake Air Force 1, especially when you want to buy one of those.
In fact, that’s why we’re here. We have compiled this Ultimate Guide on how to spot fake Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold sneakers so that you’d be safe when buying these shoes.
Speaking of buying safe, have you checked our guide on how to buy safe sneakers online? Have a look at it if you want to see our recommendations on staying safe while buying sneakers such as the OW AF1 University Gold!
To put it shortly, the fastest way to spot fake Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold is by checking the medial text on both the left and on the right shoes, as well as looking at the text written on the size tags.
The fake Off-White AF1s never have their text on the medial text and on the size tags at the right thickness, and the real pairs are always properly detailed.
The medial text is a feature that’s found on every Nike x Off-White pair of shoes, and it is pretty much a signature that Virgil Abloh wanted to add on the interior profile sides of these sneakers.
Now as we’ve said before, the medial text is the most reliable way to tell fake Off-White Air Force 1 Yellow sneakers, hence why we’ve started this guide with this spot.
The medial can be found on both the left and the right shoes, and in order to keep this tidy, we’re going to start by looking at the left shoe.
After that one, we are going to talk about the real vs fake Off-White Air Force 1 Lemonade pairs on the right shoes.
In the image with the fake vs real Off-White Air Force 1 Lemonade sneakers above, you can see quite a few flaws on the fake shoes – don’t panic, it’s easy to tell them.
Let’s start with the first line of text: the fake pair has its “TM” text looking too big and placed too close to the “Off-White” text which is covered by the Nike Swoosh logo.
On the other hand, you can see how the real pair has its “TM” inscription placed further away from the “Off-White” text since there’s a larger gap between these two inscriptions.
Then, the words “for” and “NIKE” in the medial text of the fake pair look too thick and too bulky, while the same two words on the real pair show up being thinner.
At the bottom of the text, you can see how the “c. 1982” inscription is too thick on the fake AF1s, and how the real OW AF1s have their text thinner.
Since we spoke about everything regarding the left shoes, let’s go to the medial text seen on the right real vs fake Air Force 1 Off-White Yellow sneakers.
This fake vs real Off-White Air Force 1 Gold image above shows you how the fake pair has its text with pretty much the same flaw spots as the previous comparison picture.
First things first, the “Off-White” text is way too thick on the fake shoes, while the authentic OW AF1 Yellow pair’s text is thinner.
Regarding the “TM” text, this inscription is also too thick on the fake shoes, while the real pair’s text is thinner.
Going to the bottom of the medial text, the “Oregon” and the “USA” inscriptions have the same flaw as well: the fake text is too thick, while the real one is thinner.
Psst, hey there! Want to learn how to spot fake Nike Air Force 1s? Clicking on the highlighted text will get you to our library of free Nike AF1 guides!
Leaving the medial text aside, we now have to hop inside the real vs fake Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold sneakers.
The size tags may seem just like two little pieces of paper, but the truth is that they are yet another very reliable way to tell the authenticity of these AF1s because, on the real shoes, these papers are really precise and always the same.
Most of the fake Off-White AF1s have their text on the size tag improperly font-weighted, but let’s leave this talking aside and let’s look at the fake vs real Canary Yellow OW AF1 comparison image so we’d see the examples.
Since there are quite a few flaws in the replica Off-Whtie Air Forces, we want to talk about each and all of them. In order to keep the order of what we’re explaining, we’ve counted each flaw.
The “VY” text stands for the factory assigned to manufacture the genuine Off-White Air Force 1s.
On the fake shoes, this text is way too thin and small, while the authentic pair’s text is supposed to be thicker and bigger.
As mentioned in the heading, the “DD1876-700” is the style code, meaning that this is the unique ID that is assigned to the Nike x Off-White Air Force 1 University Golds.
The fake pair’s style code is too thin and yet again, the text on the fake size tag is too small, and the legit Off-White Air Force 1s have their same text looking thicker and bigger.
The UPC code is yet another inscription that has more internal meaning which Nike cares about more than how much we do. The UPC code is also unique for each legit OW AF1 Yellow pair.
Once again, the fake pair’s text is “too perfect”. By that, we mean that the text shouldn’t be printed as clear as that.
Looking at the real shoes, you can see what we mean – the real pair’s text has to be thick and have this sort of shadow all around its characters.
The authentic Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold sneakers are made in Vietnam, and that is stated on the bottom left side of the size tag. Moreover, the text is spelt in multiple languages.
The fake Off-White Gold AF1s have their “MADE IN VIETNAM” block of text looking too thin once again, and surprisingly or not, the real pair has its text thicker.
This inscription simply states that the numbers next to it represent the size of the shoes spelt in the Chinese size chart.
The “CN” text made out of the two letters is also too skinny and looks too thin on the fake shoes, while the real pair has its text thicker.
The third step of the guide on how to authenticate Nike x Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold sneakers will have us looking at the rear side’s details.
In order to properly inspect the shoes there, let’s flip the fake vs real Off-White AF1 University Gold pairs to their backs.
The image with the authentic vs fake Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold sneakers above shows you how the fake pair has three flaws.
Starting from the top and to the bottom, you can first notice how the “NIKE” text is too thick and too little visible on the fake shoes.
On the other hand, the same inscription seen on the real Off-White AF1 Lows looks thinner and it is also more legible than the fake one.
In the middle of the shoes, you can see how the “A I R” text is too thin and too boxy on the fake shoes, while the authentic pair has its “A I R” text looking thicker and bigger/wider than the fake text.
And then there is the last flaw which tells us that the fake shoes have their vertical stitching on the left and on the right sides of the patch in the middle of the shoes looking too thick and too long.
The authentic Off-White Air Forces have the same stitches looking thinner and shorter than the threads seen on the sides of the fake pair’s middle patch.
The fourth method of the Off-White Air Force 1 University Yellow authentication process will have us looking at the shoes on the interior side, once again.
Though, this time we have to remove the insoles in order to have access to the red threads on what we call the footbeds of the fake vs real Off-White AF1 University Yellow.
The flaw on the fake pair’s footbed is that there it’s got too few stitches.
You can notice how the authentic OW Air Force 1s have a larger stitching density when it comes to these little red threads on the footbed.
The stitching density flaw can be noticed if you look at the empty space between those threads. Is there too much blank space? Then you’re probably looking at a fake pair. Little empty space? Most likely authentic!
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.
Moving forward to the fifth way on how to tell fake Off-White Air Force 1 Low sneaker, we are going to talk about the perforations on the toe box.
So as to properly check them, we want to flip the real vs fake Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold pairs to a top-down view angle.
In the image with the real vs fake Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold sneakers above, you can see how the fake pair has its perforation too wide.
On the other hand, the genuine pair’s holes on the toe box are narrower and slimmer than the fake ones.
Moving forward to the sixth method of the guide on how to spot fake Off-White Air Force 1 sneakers, we are going t talk about the inflation level of the toe boxes.
What’s different in this step from the previous one is that now we need to go to the profile sides in order to see how high the toe boxes are.
The picture with the authentic vs fake Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold shoes above shows you how the fake pair’s toe box is too high.
This can be the most noticeable if you look at the upper side of the leather – the material is stretched too much, hence why we’re saying that the toe box is too high.
On the other hand, the real pair’s toe box is shorter and it is smaller than the fake pair’s toe box.
Moving forward to the seventh method of the guide on how to spot fake Off-White Air Force ones, we are going to talk about the notorious Nike Swoosh logo.
There are two spots which we care about at this time:
Let’s talk about each one of those individually.
If you carefully look at the logo, you can’t miss the fact that these shoes have some black stitches all around the logo – from the front to the back.
The fake pair’s Swoosh has its stitches too thick and too short. You can see how short they are if you look at the top edges of those that are placed on the grey logo.
There you can see how little the fake stitches are placed on the grey side.
Looking at the authentic pair’s Swoosh, it is visible how the stitches are thicker and how they cover more of the grey surface of the Nike Swoosh logo.
The second hand-emoji pointer in the real vs fake Off-White Air Force 1 image above shows you how the two holes are misplaced.
Precisely, the two perforations below the Nike Swoosh logo on the fake Air Force 1s have too much distance from the Swoosh, while the real ones are lost to the tick logo.
At the same time, the fake Off-WHite Air Force 1 University Gold pair has holes too small, while the authentic perforations are larger.
Proceeding to the eighth method of the guide on how to spot fake Off-White Air Force 1 Lemon sneakers, we are going to talk about the insoles.
In the image with the real vs fake Off-White University Gold Air Force 1s above, you can see how the fake pair’s “NIKE” text is too thin.
On the other hand, the real Off-White Air Forces have the same “NIKE” text looking thicker and bulkier than the fake one.
Going to the ninth method of the guide on how to tell fake Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold shoes, we need to zoom into the midsoles.
The stitching which we are going to talk about is basically what connects the upper of the shoes with the soles.
The fake vs real OW AF1 University Gold image above shows you how the fake pair’s stitching on the midsole is too thick and too boxy.
On the other hand, the real Off-White Air Forces have their stitching thinner and with each thread being wider than the fake pair’s stitches.
Proceeding to the tenth way of the guide on how to spot real vs fake Off-White Air Force 1 University Yellow, now we have to talk about the text on the tongue.
The image with the real vs fake Off-WHite Air force 1s above shows you how the fake pair has its “OFF” text looking too thick, as it comes out of the white badge too much.
On the other hand, the authentic pair’s “OFF” text looks thinner and it comes out of the badge less than the fake pair’s text.
The eleventh method on how to authenticate Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold will have us looking at the notorious “AIR” text on the sneakers.
The “AIR” text is seen on most of the Nike x Off-White sneakers because this is yet another one of the signatures which Virgil Abloh sets on these shoes.
The image with the real vs fake Off-White Air force 1 University Gold sneakers above shows you how the quotation marks (” “) on the fake shoes are too long.
On the other hand, the authentic pair’s quotation marks are shorter and boxier than the replica pieces.
For the twelfth method on how to tell fake Off-White Air Force 1 shoes, we need to talk about the shade used to colour the orange tabs.
The image with the real vs fake Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold sneakers above shows you how the fake pair has its orange tab looking too light and too little saturated.
On the other hand, the real pair has its orange tab looking more vibrant and more concentrated than the fake pair’s tab.
Moving to the thirteenth of the guide on how to spot fake Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold sneakers, we are going to talk about the boxes.
Stepping aside from the actual shoes, let’s have a look at the real vs fake OW AF1 University Gold box labels.
The fake vs real Off-White AF1 Yellow box labels image above shows you how the fake pair hs has its text at the wrong thickness.
In fact, the “UNIVERSITY GOLD / OR UNIVERSITE” text looks too thick and too bulky on the fake shoes, while the same text on the real box is thinner.
Going back to the shoes, we now have to talk about the “SHOELACES” text which is printed… Yes, on the laces!
First things first, let’s quickly look at the authentic vs replica Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold comparison image below.
In the image with the real vs fake Off-White Air Force 1 Uni Gold image above you can see how the fake pair has its “SHOELACES” text too thick.
This can be the most noticeable if you look at the letters “S”, where the fake ones are too thick and too wide, while the real letters look thinner and narrower.
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The 14 fake vs real OW Air Force 1 Lemon 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 Nike x OW AF1 pair.
That is why we have compiled this quick 60 seconds solution to authenticating your OW AF1 University Yellow sneakers. Below are the top 14 indicators that can help you determine if you have a fake pair of Off-White Air Force 1 or the real deal.
If you need help with the authentication of your Off-White Air Force 1 UNY sneakers, we’ve got you covered.
All you have to do is send us good-quality pictures of your OW AF1 Yellow 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 fake vs real Off-White Air Force 1 University Gold 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
