The sneaker culture is on another level, the amount of money and time invested into sneakers is boomin (s/o @benjaminkickz) the past couple of years. Fakes have been improving so much recently, to the point it's so hard to know the legitimacy of an authentic sneaker compared to a counterfeit sneaker. This is because most limited release sneakers for example Yeezys/NMD collaborations/Air Jordan's/Air Jordan collaborations are resold for a much higher price than the retail price of it by resellers or big investors using the sneaker culture as a business. Sometimes the resell prices can go up to x3 the retail price. Depending how limited the release is and what collaboration it is.

On December 3, 2013, Adidas confirmed a new shoe collaboration deal with Kanye West, the shoe collaboration was named Yeezy. In the counterfeit sneaker market, Yeezy is the highest demand and best-selling counterfeit sneaker, with Air Jordan coming in next.

The counterfeit sneaker market has multiple grades of fakes. @perfectkicksnet on Instagram, from what i've heard manufacture the best fake sneakers out there. Based in China, they supposedly obtain the original blueprint designing materials from Adidas factories (according to what they say on Instagram). @perfectkicksnet have fakes of multiple brands, from Adidas,Nike to Balenciaga.

I am in no way promoting or supporting the manufacturing of fake products or the business of it.

Here are a few pictures for a quick comparison of an authentic YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 "BELUGA" // BB1826 to a fake one.

YEEZY BOOST 350 V2 "BELUGA" // Style Code BB1826

Image courtesy @fake_education on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fake_education/

Image courtesy @fake_education on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fake_education/

Image courtesy @fake_education on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fake_education/

These are just a few comparison pictures of a real pair and fake pair, these are just a few comparisons there are many more other ways to prove an authentic and a counterfeit sneaker. The font style used for the box label, The actual shoe tissue paper itself that comes with the box or the primeknit design pattern and many more. As you can see in the above pictures, the differences are very minimal. It's very hard to prove it's authenticity at glance of an eye.

Next up, we have a pair of Air Jordan 1 Bred 2016 Comparison.

AIR JORDAN 1 BRED 2016 // Style Code 555088-001

Image Courtesy @fake_education on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fake_education/

Image Courtesy @fake_education on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fake_education/

Image Courtesy @fake_education on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/fake_education/

As you can see the differences are so slight you can barely see it, The trademark "r" logos are not as defined on the tongue tags of the fakes on the second picture, but a lot of people agree that the fakes look better than the real one in the picture. The third picture you can still see a slight difference in the font used for "AIR JORDAN". These are just a few pictures for comparison. There are also still many ways to prove the authenticity of an Air Jordan.

Tell me what are your thoughts about the sneaker culture and why fakes are improving in such a fast pace, what can people do to improve the sneaker culture in the comments below. I will definitely be writing more about it in the future, so dont forget to follow!

I have written this post to raise awareness for people to realize that some people are buying fakes off the market thinking it's an authentic pair of sneakers. So make sure when you're buying yourself a pair of expensive sneakers to check the authenticity of it before purchasing it.

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I'm a 18 year old "kid" who is new to steemit, and would really like to slowly tap into this community and would love to share more information about the streetwear culture and definitely more general things as well. Hope you enjoyed my post and would really appreciate it if you resteemed it and follow me for future post!