Sneaker Culture.... Variant Culture.... Two very different ends of the Nike footwear merchandise world. One wears fake sneakers because of the low prices and the other will spend their last dime to get a pair of limited edition Nike Air force One Shoes, Retro Air Jordans, Nike Air Max 90s, Nike Air Flights, or Nike Dunk SBs
Believe it or not, it's all done in the name of image. We love to wear something that will break a neck of passer-byers, as if we were an animal on national geographic pushing out our most colorful feathers during mating season. Could it just be the human nature?
SoJones, well aware of both cultures, wanted to go in depth with a successful Nike variant retailer to see what drove them to sell the fake Nike Air Force One, Nike Retro Air Jordans, and Nike Dunk SBs. We also wanted to give an inside opinion at the most debated black market industry involving footwear.
This is the Lifestyles of the Sneaker World's Most Infamous Variant Dealers. The first of a series of interviews with different fake Nike retail monsters.
[ SoJones ]
Greetings, let’s get into this underworld of variant/fake Sneakers. Many sites formerly dealt in advertising variant
sites but discontinued because of the realization of what fake Nike products were. Also, many discontinued because
site visitors were losing awareness of what they were buying. Many sites were like this including AllHipHop,
HipHopGame, and many other major sites which I shall bypass in discussion.
And through my time on-line, I'm well aware of who you are, and how well you did with sneakers. Tell us about where
you first saw variant sneakers and did you think there was anything wrong with selling the fakes?
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
I first came across variant sneakers on a web site known as wwww.nycurbanfashion.com or something like that. I had no
idea that any of the products on that web site were fake. They were selling Burberry and Gucci Air Force Ones, Jordans,
and Timberlands.
I was actually trying to hook up a fit with a Burberry jacket that they were also selling. That type
of stuff was popular back then.
Altogether, the price was around $320 for the jacket and air forces. Obviously,
there's no way the merchandise was authentic. Nike does not put designer fabrics on their shoes and Burberry isn't
selling jackets for $200 on a cheaply built urban fashion web site that also sells Air Force Ones and Jordan shoes. I
didn’t realize that at the time. I just saw the products and I liked them. Not to mention, a lot of celebrities were
seen wearing these particular products.
Back then, I was willing to pay $320 for the complete outfit and $120 for the shoes because variant prices were high
during mid-late 90s. People were selling the shoes for over a hundred dollars, usually making 100%+ profit on every
order. As times changed, so did the prices. The variant business slowly became a buyer's market and prices dropped
to as low as $60 a pair. This happened mainly because a lot of young kids started opening web sites because it was
so easy to profit from these products. They’d be like, well as long as I make a few bucks a week, I’m good. That
slowly destroyed the enormous profits that were easily made in this business.
[ SoJones ]
Back at the beginning of the variant era, I remember a lot of people purchased the sneakers because Nike was not
putting out creative color ways and retro jordans in flamboyant colors. Some purchased the fake Nikes because they did not
want to pay the rising prices Nike was giving. Did you feel a lot of your customers were buying knowing what they
were getting?
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
Most variant shoe customers don't know much about sneaker culture. They don’t know what shoes and color ways have
actually been produced and released. They’ll see some Sponge Bob Dub Zeros and they’ll actually think that
Nike and Jordan collaborated with Nickelodeon and released some special limited collection of Sponge Bob shoes.
You can make it very clear all over your web site that the shoes are fake and they just don’t read it. Don’t ask
me how or why, but it seems like variant customers simply shop with pictures and read no text. You try and tell
them, the shoes you are buying are fake. Then they bring up another variant site like, “Well, these aren’t.” And
it’s the same shoes, same price, and different web site. Most variant consumers just don’t know much about shoes.
They buy what they like without really knowing exactly what they are purchasing. If you told them to check out
SoJones forums, NikeTalk, or InStyleShoes, they’d probably think differently. Instead of doing that, now a days,
most people who know about sneaker culture just laugh at people they see in variants.
Then there are the people who simply do not want to pay the high prices. These customers usually know they’re buying
fake shoes and they try to purchase the high quality shoes that look exactly like the authentic versions. Only a
real sneaker head could tell the difference.
Personally, I feel that 90% of all variant customers do not know that they are purchasing fake shoes. You can make it as
clear as possible on your web site that you do not sell authentic merchandise and they still don’t catch on.
[ SoJones ]
Around what time do you feel the selling of variants crossed into the whole 'sneaker head' market? And do you feel
people's logic should have overridden their buying impulses, since no real stores sell new Nikes at discount prices?
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
Recently, probably last year, the definition of variant products became a little clearer to the average customer.
Sales began to SLOWLY drop. Don’t get me wrong though. There are still thousands of people every day purchasing
fake shoes. Some know it, most don’t. A lot of real sneaker heads don’t realize that there’s still very popular variant
web sites out there right now that probably are getting around 50-100+ orders every single day. They don’t realize
exactly how big the variant market is. A lot of people think it’s dying, it is, slowly. But fake shoes will never
completely die, just like fake hand bags will never die.
[ SoJones ]
Like a lot of people say, “if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.” That’s what you need to keep
in the back of your mind when shopping online. Learn about what you are buying before you buy it and learn about who
is profiting from what you are buying. If you see Nike selling some Air Force Ones for $300 and then you see some other
random web site selling them brand new for $80, it’s obviously some type of scam. You aren’t going to find authentic
Bathing Ape Hoodies or Shoes online for $80. It’s just not happening. Don’t fool yourself. If you just want to buy
a fake product because you don’t feel like paying retail, more power to you. Just make sure you are educated on
what you are buying before whipping out the cash for it.
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
I’ve even had reputable sources contact me asking to advertise with them. Do they know I was selling fake shoes? I
don’t know. I never chose to advertise with any places that may fool customers into thinking I was selling authentic
merchandise. For example, when you see MTV advertising a shoe, you wouldn’t think they were advertising an illegal
product, would you? It’s actually kind of disturbing to think that one uneducated person can influence thousands
of others.
[ SoJones ]
Another thing I'm aware of because of various ties around the states, quite a few celebrities purchased variants. I even
saw a well known designer at the MAGIC fashion convention who wore his sneakers through the convention without a problem.
Did you serve any well known names while selling variants?
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
I’m positive that I’ve sold to a few celebrities. I’m sure a celebrity wouldn’t purchase under their stage name and I
don’t keep myself up to date on a lot of celebrity’s real names or their stylist’s names but to be completely honest,
I’ve been contacted by a lot of professional athletes. It seemed like some even wanted to purchase a large amount
specifically to resell them. It’s also somewhat funny because I remember hearing awhile back about some professional
athletes getting caught for selling fake shoes. They’re making tons of money doing what they love to do, play sports.
And at the same time, they’re out there selling fake shoes, that’s how addicting that fake shoe money is. It’s so
easy to make money that it’s hard to stop making it.
Personally, one of the things I never did while selling fake shoes was sell them in wholesale amounts. I did not want
to sell large amounts of shoes to people. Mainly because if people buy large amounts, it’s obvious they plan on
reselling them. I don’t want them to resell them as authentic and I definitely did not want to be part of their
operation in doing so.
A lot of people do not understand why variant dealers sale and how fast the money can be. Money is one of the most
addicting things out there and to me, variant selling was just like anything else fast money; once in, you're
hooked.
[ SoJones ]
On an average day how much money would you say would run through a good variant dealers hands?
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
If you had an easy to use and popular variant web site, on an average day, you would probably be bringing in
30-50 orders. Some orders would be for one pair while others would be for $500+ dollars worth of shoes. On
average I’d say the average order consisted of around 1-3 pairs and ended up totaling around $150. So 20-40
orders worth $130 on average. That’s during a slow time period too. Now during Christmas or “Back to School”
time, you’d probably bring in 50 orders a day and on busy days you’d probably see over 100 orders. Just do the math.
[ SoJones ]
What's the biggest amount of money seen from variant sales in one day? I heard many variant dealers call Monday,
"Money Mondays" around 6 or so years ago (photo posted of over $5k in Money orders).
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
When selling variant shoes, most people accept money orders. It’s hard to accept other payments because selling fake
products violates every policy out there. Credit Card merchant accounts get shut down and PayPal accounts get
limited. As soon as they see how much money you bring in, they look at what you’re selling. Unlike customers, they
read the policy on your web site, which results in closing your account.
People say “Money Mondays,” because usually you get a lot of mail on Mondays. On a busy Monday, I’ve seen way
over $10,000 worth of orders and 30-40% was mine to keep. I won’t give out an exact numbers but over
$5,000 in profit on a Monday wouldn’t even be that impressive to a popular variant web site.
[ SoJones ]
When you first started seeing so much money, how hard was it for you to manage it? Did you blow a lot?
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
Managing the money never really was hard for me. I never went overboard with it and always saved it to invest in
something more legitimate. Since the beginning, I always knew I wasn’t going to sell fake shoes forever.
Don’t get me wrong, a lot of money was spent on some pretty stupid things. However, I was able to save a majority
of it for something bigger and better.
[ SoJones ]
Being you were into Urban and Hip Hop fashion yourself... how much money did you go back and spend on real Nike
sneakers and Hip Hop clothing, you think?
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
I never really wore the fake shoes too much, especially as the times had changed and the shoes were becoming
more recognized as being fake. I’ve always been into authentic clothing and shoes and I would always buy a
majority of the authentic new releases from Nike and Jordan. Right now some of their releases are actually
looking like variants, but that topic is for another time. Right now, I’ve kind of matured from purchasing
every new release that I like and I only have a small collection of fewer than 50 pairs.
[ SoJones ]
What's probably some of the most expensive trips you've had shopping and what’s the most expensive thing you have
purchased from your 'hay days’?
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
I’ve had big enough shopping trips to be escorted with security and I’ve had some shopping sprees where I couldn’t
even carry all the bags back to the car and we even had a tough time fitting them in the car when we made it outside.
Onto the question about the most expensive thing that I have purchased… I wouldn’t say that the most expensive thing
that I have purchased was purchased with money directly made from selling fake shoes because it was purchased awhile
after closing my web site, but I purchased a home for my family. It wouldn’t be hard to purchase all of that with
variant money if you stay in the business long enough.
However, altogether it was purchased with money from the variants and other more legitimate ventures that took
place after choosing to move on from the variant business. If I never started the variant web site, I probably
wouldn’t have what I have now, nor would I be able to do what I do right now. It would’ve taken a lot longer
to achieve what I have achieved right now. I recommend to anyone that is trying to do something
legitimate, stick with it. It takes a little more time, but the pay out is worth it in the end.
Don’t think that you need to sell fake shoes to make money. I’m not trying to inspire others to do exactly what I did.
[ SoJones ]
I hear a few dealers out there are sitting on more than enough money to retire and the connects over in Asia are
all sitting on multi-millions. Do you think those rumors are true?
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
I don’t really specifically know a whole lot about the connections in Asia, but I do know that factory owners out
there are definitely making millions. More than any sellers in the United States, that’s obvious. The business
itself is huge and it definitely gets deeper than a few web sites in the United States. Remember that the
variant business is worldwide.
I’ve always wondered how they get exact copies of shoes before they are released. It seems hard to copy a shoe
like the Jordan 22s months before they even get released to the public, but somehow they manage to do it to
every release. The answer to how they do it will probably never even be known by the people who sell them,
even the ones selling them overseas. I once asked a supplier how they did it; he said “I think they steal them.”
All in all, I really can’t confirm or deny any rumors.
[ SoJones ]
Well, SoJones has asked enough here. We know a lot of eyes will be wanting more but time is limited, so they
will have to wait for a second interview from another seller. If there's anything you could say about the variant
game that many people probably are not aware of today, that would shock readers, what would you say before this ending?
[ Fake Nike Shoes Seller "Mr Nike Air Force 1" ]
I don’t have much else to say besides know exactly what you are buying and to educate yourself before buying
things online. Remember, “If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.” I hope to have
opened some eyes with this interview and possibly educated a few people who were buying fake shoes when
they thought they were authentic shoes
[ SoJones ]
Thanks for taking the time on the interview! Those SoJones are the Hip Hop fashion trend setters and this is
definitely an interview about that's hitting the mainstream Hip Hop Culture of America, like it or not. The
Lifestyle of an infamous Nike Variant dealer! More stories coming soon.
