How To Tell If Off-White Is Real Or Fake (2023)

Last Updated on December 3, 2023 by Ch David

Wondering how to tell fake vs real Off-White main label? This is a complete guide to spotting legit and counterfeit Virgil Abloh’s Off-White pieces, whether you’re legit checking hoodies, t-shirts, sweaters, jackets, or something else.

Off-White is one of the hottest brands and, consequently, it’s very replicated by fake manufacturers.

This guide is a cookie-cutter guide which shows you how to authenticate any clothing piece.

Remember though, our Legit Check app has curated collections of fake vs real guides for some specific pieces — with your support, we’ll cover many more specific comparisons.

So make sure you download the app to have access to more legit check guides.

This guide applies to any wearable Off-White item.

Let’s start the fake vs real comparison now.

How to spot any fake Off-White clothing

You can tell if your Off-White is real or fake by looking for incorrect text spacing on the neck tag main label and checking the material on the wash tag. Thick or very thin inscriptions indicate a 100% fake Off-White.

Need picture comparisons to understand? We’ve got you, scroll down to see all the fake vs real comparisons.

1. Neck tag (“MAIN LABEL”)

What you need to know is that there are multiple types of neck tags Off-White has used. We’ll go into specific fake vs real comparisons of all these types.

Starting with FW16 “CUT OFF” collection, Off-White started using the following “MAIN LABEL” green neck tags:

Anything released after the Fall-Winter ’16 collection should come up with these neck tags (at least until further notice).

If you have doubts regarding which season your piece is from, we’ll cover a map explaining all the Off-White collections later in this guide — use the navigation bar to skip sections in this fake vs real Off-White guide.

FW16 specifically had a mix of these green Off-White labels and some of the older tags we’ll cover below.

Since most legit checks will include pieces after this collection, we’ll cover the fake vs real Off-White green tag comparison first.

1.1. Green “MAIN LABEL” tag (after FW16 )

You can spot fake Off-White “MAIN LABEL” tags just by feeling them. Fake Off-White labels have printed characters, while real products have embossed characters which you can actually feel upon touching.

Now, let’s see a detailed comparison between real and fake Off-White labels.

1.1.1. Rubber letters

• Authentic Off-White tees, hoodies, etc. should have the text found on these labels come in a rubbery material.
• Authentic inscriptions should also shine when exposed to light.
• If you would run your finger over it, you must feel it
• Letters on the legit Off-White pieces should be embossed.

Though, fake Off-White products tend to have printed instead of embossed characters:

• Fake Off-White pieces come with these letters, numbers, and other characters printed on the green label
• Flat characters them flat mean you won’t feel the emboss, should you run your finger over them.

Below is a second picture that displays the difference in shine and material quality better. The top tee neck tag is the fake one, while the bottom tee neck tag is the real piece.

In the fake vs real Off-White image above:

• The fake letters are just printed on the label.
• They don’t shine or reflect any light.
• Some letters are also too thick and hard to read — see the “e” in the word “between”.

Can you see the shine in the genuine Off-White t-shirt tag? That’s one way you can spot fake vs real Off-White pieces easily.

Let’s move to the next element of the legit check guide.

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Need the expert's help? Let us look at your Off-White:

1.1.2. Label stitching

Flaws on the fake Off-White above:

• The stitching is poor and not dense at all. There are not enough stitches.
• The threads are too long compared to the real ones, which seem to be shorter.
• The stitching is also too thin. See how the real Off-White stitching is thicker and stronger.
• The “2013 ©” print is too thick. Note how the real text is thinner!

Real Off-White neck tags should cover the following:

• The stitching found on the neck labels should be clean, showing no extra threads.
• No black filling, no loose threads or anything that does not look like it should belong to a premium product should be present.
• Yes, it’s possible that with wear these elements would start showing. We recommend using your judgement when spotting fake or real Off-White pieces — or resorting to the other points in this guide.

As we always mention in our library of legit check guides, fake manufacturers will always use lower-quality factory equipment so as to save on costs.

What counterfeit Off-White clothing buyers care about when wearing these pieces is not to be exposed for wearing fakes. Therefore, hidden elements like stitching quality are compromised.

That comes in very handy when learning how to spot fake Off-White via neck tags.

1.1.3. Printing quality

Pay attention to the following elements found on the fake Off-White t-shirt tag:

• The extra spacing inconsistency on the fake.
• The ™ character is too far away from “ABLOH”.
• The wrong font is on the “MAIN LABEL” text.
• The lower-quality tag material on the replica.
• Weird spacing between words is the go-to legit checking element.
  • In our example: “the grey” text bit is weirdly spaced out from its neighbours (“Defining” and “area”).
  • Notice the space between “as” and “the” (highlighted with the hand emoji) or the spacing between “colour” and “Off-White™”.

Fake neck tags come with lots of flaws like these: instant callouts, proving themselves very useful in authenticating Off-White pieces.

Everything should be on point in an authentic version of Virgil’s brand.

Think of it this way: replica manufacturers need to get so many things right when it comes to the “visible” parts of an item.

Spending the extra money to buy the higher-quality equipment that Off-White factories actually use is not something that makes financial sense for the fake producers.

Some fake Off-White pieces do get the stitching part right. But then they stumble when it comes to the printing quality of the text found on this neck tag.

What you’ll want to look out for in the green label’s text is any wording inconsistency. Maybe you’ll notice weird spacing between words or simply a different font than the one found on the authentic Off-White label.

Off-White prides itself as a premium brand — and at least when it comes to these tags, they’re pretty well printed.

Here’s yet another comparison with some differences between fonts, though the fake Off-White tag, in this case, is not a high-quality one.

• The fake label’s quotation symbols are too thick and small.
• The quotes are also not painted wholly, as on the real item
• The “Defining the grey area between black and white as the color Off-White ™” text uses a different font
• The same text is too big and has very large characters.

It goes without saying that anything that looks like this is an instant fake because of the loose threads and low-quality text print.

• This label is poorly stitched: way too many threads hanging
• The label itself uses a different material from real Off-White main labels
• The text doesn’t have the right font: the letters are too big, and quotations have different fonts
• The label isn’t stitched entirely into the t-shirt’s fabric, making it look wrinkled

This is a really poor Off-White replica, but regardless, it is our job to show you all the fake Off-White types, from best to worst.

1.2. Grey “MAIN LABEL” tag (after FW20)

Three flaws are found on the fake Off-White label:

• The text is looking too thick in all three pointed areas.
• The quotation marks are too thin and almost invisible.
• The last line of text spells “whiteas” with no space in-between “white” and “as”.
• The letter “a” in the word “and” is bigger than the rest, and the “d” is too small”.

The authentic Off-White Post-FW20 items have their text on the neck tag looking thinner than what it appears to be on the fake pieces.

1.3. New Off-White logo tag (after SS20)

In the fake vs real Off-White SS20 image above:

• The fake item has its text and the graphics too thin (the palm and the face).
• The “LG-425” print is too small and thin.
• The word “Main” is placed too high above the double-lined blue border.
• The word “Label” has the letter “L” lower than the rest.
• The stitching has blue threads when it should only have white stitches.

On the other hand, the quality is visibly superior on the legit Off-White item as it has its text looking thicker than what it appears to be on the fake item.

More legit check guides for you: Off-White Mona Lisa, Yeezy 700 V1.

1.4. Older Off-White neck tags

Most of you will skip this area. We’re going to analyse older fake Off-White pieces.

1.4.1. After FW16 — “Cut Off” Collection

Here is what the FW16 neck tag looks like:

One thing to remember is that the “Off-White” text is always accompanied by the ™ “Trademark” symbol, and never the Registered symbol (®).

Also on FW16, products came with the authentic tag displayed below (top pic):

• FW16 products should come with the zip tie taken through the loophole next to the neck tag. See below.
• Noteworthy is that sometimes there’s a secondary tag saying “℅ Virgil Abloh”. That is a sign of authenticity as well, though not all items come with it.

FW16 was a mix of these two types linked above. Let’s move on now to even older OW pieces.

1.4.2. Before FW16 — Older neck tags

Here’s what older authentic Off-White neck tags should look like, with SS16 and FW15 having slim Off-White text, while SS15 and FW14 have fat text.

If the tags look like this (pictured below), don’t worry. This is how the labels get to look after they’re worn and washed in multiple types.

It doesn’t necessarily mean the item is fake or legit.

Some flaws were found in these older models.

We can notice here:

• Sloppy craftsmanship
• Sloppy stitching coming out
• Indefinite lines (notice how the white lines are neat on the top example)
• Inconsistent shape (look at the extremes of the tag)

Black stitching is an instant call out for a fake for older Off-White neck tags.

And to conclude this comparison for older pieces, the text shouldn’t ever be sinking like that.

2. Wash tags

The wash tag test proves itself as a very useful way of spotting fake vs real Off-White.

We’ll start by comparing the wash tag materials used by counterfeit pieces, continue by analysing the fabrication country text and finish with the map explaining all Off-White collections.

We’ve also got a separate Off-White wash tag legit check guide.

2.1. Material quality

The wash tag pictured above is a good example of a material that’s of lesser quality than the authentic one.

Although it might be hard to explain in words how the authentic material should feel, you can still tell the difference given enough pictures. The way you do that is by seeing how light reflects from the material.

The fake wash tags are either:

• Rough shiny material like the picture above.
• A shiny paper material.
• Thick paper.

The original wash tag should be from a fabric that’s silky smooth and one that feels high quality.

Imagine a reputable design house’s wash tags and that should give you an estimate of how the authentic material feels.

I’m hoping the photo below will help you understand. Try zooming in, it could help you feel the difference.

One extra detail to mention when it comes to legit checking Off-White is the craftsmanship on the stitching job.

It makes sense why the replica one would be of lesser quality. The authentic one is richer and denser.

Not all authentic Off-White pieces have as many threads as the example given above, but they definitely have more than 13 loopholes, as the fake Off-White wash tag above has.

2.2. Fabrication country

Off-White is produced in Portugal, Italy and rarely Romania. Sometimes you might see “Made in UE” written on an authentic wash tag. All these are legit.

If you see “Made in China”, “Made in Vietnam” or any other country on a wash tag, that is an instant callout for a fake.

Before FW16, the wash tag should say “MADE IN UE” — FW16 is not included, we’ll lay out below a map of how to legit check Off-White based on the year’s collection.

After FW16 (“CUT OFF” inscribed on the garment), the rule is:

– Hoodies, Tees and Crewnecks – Made in Portugal

– Denim, Belts, Backpacks and Caps/Hats – Made in Italy

– Leather products or jackets – Made in Romania

For instance, a wash tag from a tee/hoodie saying “Made in Italy” is a typical flaw and an instant callout for a fake.

How do you know if an item is from a collection post-FW16?

Know if your Off-White items are post-FW16 via the text in quotes at the bottom of the wash tags.

You’ve probably noticed texts like “CUT OFF” “SEEING THINGS”, “TEMPERATURE” or like on the bottom of the tee/hoodie. That is the collection name.

Check the map below to see what Off-White from other collections looks like.

2.3. After FW20

Now, let’s go further in time and check the quality of the wash tags on the pieces made in and after FW20.

In the real vs fake Off-White FW20 image above:

• The fake Off-White inscriptions are improperly positioned: they are different from the inscriptions from the legit ones.
• See how the fake item has its “OM….” text looking too small and thin, while the legit item has its text looking bigger and thicker.
• The “SIZE CA” inscription on the fake item is too boxy and thick.
• The “FABRIC” text is too boxy and thin.
• The”100%” text looks too thick on the number “1”. The rest of the inscriptions look too thin.

The authentic Off-White items never have these painting flaws. In fact, the inscriptions on a legit Off-White piece’s wash tag must have the same font-weight for each letter and character.

2.4. After SS20

In the real vs fake Off-White SS20 image above:

• The fake item has the top tip of its letters “ff” looking too thick, while the letters on the legit items appear to be thinner.
• The same flaw can be visible on the fake item if you look at the bottom of the letters “ff”.

3. Transparent hang tag

As for the third step of the guide on how to spot fake Off-White items, we are going to check out the hang tags of the fake vs real Off-White items.

3.1. Number of lines (before FW20)

• All legit Off-White hang tags must have 10 lines on the transparent badge.
• The fake label has only 9 lines — a common small mistake.

The authentic Off-White items’ hangtags must have 10 lines, so if you see only 9 lines on the hangtag, then you are most likely looking at a replica.

3.2. Size of the empty rectangle

In the fake vs real Off-White hangtag image above:

• The fake rectangle is too long in width and too short in height.
• By that, we mean that the fake item has an empty rectangle.

On the other hand, the legit item has an empty rectangle as well, but it is a lot shorter than the one visible on the fake item.

In fact, the legit hangtag has its empty rectangle looking taller in height, and shorter in width.

Off-White Collection Map

FW18 and above (SS19, FW19, etc.)

After FW18, it looks like there’s no regular print on most pieces, much like it used to be before. However, we can still legit check Off-White garments by having a look at the wash tag: it should say Made in Italy/Portugal.

Whereas for the rest of the collections, here’s what they usually have inscribed:

SS18 — “TEMPERATURE”

FW17 — “SEEING THINGS”

Pre-Fall 17 (Women) — “GLOBAL WARMING?”

SS17 — “MIRROR MIRROR”

KITH x Off-White (early 2017) — “JUST GLOBAL”

FW16 — “CUT OFF”

SS16 — “BLUE COLLAR”

FW15 —”HALF TIME” or “EYE OF” or “THE BASIS”

Worth noting is that the collection’s name is “Done Deal”.

SS15 — “MOVING STILL”

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Naturally, if you’re still not sure about your Off-White item’s collection, you can try looking it up online.

You’d do that to see if someone else has had a listing with it so you can compare the pics — this is applying more to older items.

Where can I buy authentic Off-White clothing?

If you’re looking for new Off-White pieces, then websites like the official Off-White website or Farfetch might be the best place for you.

However, if you’re looking for older or sold-out Off-White pieces, we’ve got you.

We wrote a guide on how to buy streetwear pieces safely online. Over there we describe the best practices that we recommend so that:

1. You’ll be safe, i.e. not scammed.
2. Even if you get scammed, we’re teaching you how to pay and buy so that you can get your money back if anything goes wrong.
3. We’re also explaining where you can find older/sold-out pieces and Off-White is no exception.

To go deeper on point #3 in this list, you’ll see there what options you’ve got as you will have to resort to a secondary (reseller) market. This consequence comes with its risks, so our guide is a 101 — others have learned these lessons the hard way by wasting hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars/pounds.

Respecting the guide should keep you in the safe zone.

Expert Off-White authentication service

It’s one of the services we offer. We’re putting out all these guides which will be free forever, but if for some reason you still have doubts, we’re happy to have a look for you.

Get our opinion

The process is simple: send us pictures of the pair you want authenticated and we’ll come back with a verdict in 24 to 48 hours (sometimes even faster).

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Thank you for reading this,

Ch Daniel and Ch David