The Materials
Y-3 trainers are crafted from only the finest leather, which will be soft and smooth to the touch, and will have that great leather smell. Most fakes will use cheap plastics and leather imitations, which do not feel or smell the same as authentic cowhide. The fake copies tend to smell like a cheap pair of trainers that you would expect to find in your average high street store, not in any upmarket boutique selling Y-3 trainers.
The Laces
An excellent way of telling whether your Y-3 trainers are genuine or not is to look at the ends of the laces. Authentic laces will have three small holes in the metal pieces which are on the end of each lace; whereas fakes will simply have a piece of low quality plastic. Genuine trainers will be accompanied in the box by a pair of spare laces, in a black card pouch, embossed with the Y-3 logo. Most counterfeiters will omit this small detail, to cut their costs.
The Logos
Authentic Y-3 trainers will have ‘Yohji Yamamoto’ printed on the stripe nearest the heel of the shoe. It will be a very high quality print, and will not begin to rub off after a few days of wear. Many fakes will use plastic lettering, which is glued onto the stripes. This is often poorly executed, and as you can see in our photographs, there is no space between the two words - an absolute giveaway. On the tongue of the shoe, you will find a Y-3 logo stitched in. The stitching will be neat, tight and free from imperfections. It will also not come loose after a little wear - Y-3 trainers are expensive because they are built to last. This logo will always be embroidered in; not printed, or glued on.
The Shape
A genuine Y-3 trainer has an exceptionally sleek, streamlined look, and fraudsters find it incredibly difficult to copy this. This is mainly because they are using a basic pair of trainers, with a modified exterior, to imitate many different brands and models of shoe. Therefore, a counterfeit Y-3 will look wide and fat compared to a genuine pair. As you can see in the pictures, the heel of the genuine shoe is much slimmer and sleeker than the counterfeit copy.
The Box
Authentic Y-3 trainers will come in a black shoe box - the lid will be embossed with a glossy Y-3 Yohji Yamamoto logo, and the three Adidas stripes wrap around the main body of the box itself, in gloss black print. As you can see in the pictures, the fake box is a very different shape to the genuine one. This is because counterfeiters use one box, and modify it for different brands of shoe, therefore they cannot replicate the exact shape of a genuine Y-3 box.
We recommend that you always buy from FakesRevealed Certified Retailers, to ensure that the items you buy are authentic. A list of trusted retailers can be found by clicking the Retailers link at the top of the page.
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