Yeah, that's definitely happening all over the place unfortunately. There's a conversation to be had here about buying these items secondhand so they don't go straight to landfill but we're still kind of encouraging overconsumption if we do that since we'd have to be repurchasing these items more frequently.... Let us know your thoughts on this below!
I'm managed to score a pair of river island jeans in my favourite charity shop, there's still hope Even found a really good leather jacket but I wasn't looking for a high quality leather jacket like that, and it was incredibly heavy, I don't know how but it was more heavy than my half maincune cat
Dupe is more commonly used term in makeup and perfume. Like "this cheap eyeliner has a similar formula to and works just as well as that really expensive one." In that case, it's not a product being made to copy another at all. It just happens to work out like that.
yes! here to say that… i’ve seen things referred as a dupe when they have the same characteristics, just like you say. Same function, and perhaps even better quality for a lower price.
that's white-labelling in some cases, and off-branding in others. A "dupe" is just shortened "duplicate" which, by definition doesn't fit your classification because it IS intentional.
Yeah perfume is a big one. I'm a guy, but I took the time and learned about perfume oil concentrations and the differences between eau fraiche, aftershave, ed cologne, ed toilette, ed parfum, and parfum. I mostly own perfumes. It has nothing to do with perfume vs cologne, but oil concentration and how long it stays on your skin and how much silage it produces. Perfumes are what I see the most dupes in. Its very easy for people to pick out the notes in perfume and recreate them to nearly identical. I don't necessarily buy one of the other (dupe vs brand) as I see a need for both. Sometimes I'm willing to drop 400$ on a Maison Francis Baccarat Rouge 540, and other times I'm not willing to drop more than 90$ for a few oz of a knockoff perfume.
@@vultureblockchain8320 I agree with you on the that. I only buy plant based perfume due to my mom's allergies. But I will spend the money on a nice one but also buy something more affordable. I like what I like and just not interested in some of those animal based ingredients as I feel if I wouldn't want to touch it why should I wear it.
I have my best friend living in China for 12 years now and a couple years ago he discovered a knockoff factory for designer bags in which the guys were taking the same leathers, zippers, and everything from the same producers as, for example, Louis Vuitton does. Their knockoffs are practically indistinguishable from the originals. We've brought a couple (paid $250 a pop, from the factory! Super expensive for a knockoff product) and gave them to some women with huge experience in this stuff and they were shocked. 100% same as the originals.
I feel like pre recession a lot more people were judgmental of those who couldn’t afford designer clothing and bags, but after the 08 recession and also during the covid 19 pandemic, less people can afford the real deal and now it’s more about saving money than being able to afford designer shit
Just to point out: UGGs themselves are technically a dupe of Uggboots, an Australian fashion item that was sold simply as "Uggboots". They simply put a label on it and sold it in America, even their brand name was a dupe of the name "uggboots". The name for the fashion item came before the brand name!
@walterwalkman they’re really not. It makes me laugh when I hear about kids in America getting mad about getting the ‘dupe’ for Christmas or birthdays, because the UGG Australia brand that’s such a big deal over there is actually an American dupe of the Australian uggs.
Designer isn't the only authentic option. Dupes are for insecure kids who care more about imitating style than actually having affordable, high-quality clothing.
The only way Shein cloth are that cheap is because they not paying there work. Or running unlicensed factory so health and safety and regulations don't apply
It saves me sooooooo much money to Genuinely Not Care about that stuff. (But if other people do care that's fine too, such people aren't inherently stupid, everyone should be allowed to have some silly hobbies without getting mocked)
Just a note, the UGG example is a bad example. UGG is a generic term for a style of shoe. It's just that Deckers outdoor products gained a monopoly on the trademark. So much so that the original Australian manufacturers can't sell their goods outside of their own country
Once more sustainable brands start making clothing in my size (tall, size 16, shoe 12) I'm all in. But most more ethical brands tend to ignore people like me exsist. Fast fashion brands and learning to sew are really my only options for everyday clothes.
Westernwear, especially vintage westernwear, is your answer. I just sold a pair of roper brand jeans from the 90's that were size 17 and built for someone who was over 6 foot and all leg, and that was considered entirely unremarkable for the market. And this wasn't some mens wrangler style clothing that was built for a brick outhouse on legs, they were form fitting and really beautiful all while being made of a denim that still looked crisp and new after 30 years of use.
@Cooper Wiggins Thank you for the suggestion! I live in New England and work in an office, so western wear isn't my first choice. Might be good for a pair of jeans.
I just had to thank you for including the Schmidt's "Youths" video. I love this moment and everytime he says it. I would literally use it everytime if I could and met anyone else who had seen it. I am an old lady in my 30's, so... And please, make the bucket hats end already😄
I think you said "when ugg boots first came out" or similar - when would that be, sonny? Because I was wearing them here in Australia in the 1970s. Every roadside barn through Australia's woolgrowing regions sold them, unbranded, unlabelled. Then a Yank company decided to trademark the name and concept and when challenged in court, they won. The court accepted uggs were a generic product in Australia so the company (I thought it was Teva?) couldn't have sole rights to them here, but they won international rights to the name and product. Now that's a rip-off!
Exactly what I came to say. There's no such thing as a "knock off ugg" because there's no one brand that owns them. Just because someone has decided to take them overseas and pass them off as some fashionable product doesn't make that company's version the "true" ugg.
Has this channel ever done an episode about charcoal products like facial masks and toothpaste? Knowing how well you guys research all this stuff, I'm extremely curious to know if it's effective, but more importantly safe to use/consume.
Hmm we have not but that's a fantastic subject to cover! We've just launched Future Proof Health which delves into things more along these lines, so we might add this topic to our ideas list for that channel. If you're interested in our other channel, we'd love if you checked it out! You might just see a video on charcoal products over there eventually, thanks for the suggestion 🤩
Active charcoal products are hazardous to have as a regular part of your diet because it literally absorbs medications you take as well as nutrition from foods you eat. You don't want mineral/vitamin deficiency!! Medical active charcoal tablets are great to have in your home pharmacy box in case of a kind of poisoning that benefits from charcoal absorption (call your local poisoning/etc hotline first, and explain what the hazardous substance was, as sometimes other household items are better taken or none at all, before you get taken to the hospital if necessary.
The argument that "by buying dupes you're not supporting the shitty designer brands" is so weird to me lmao. So you're replacing a shitty designer brand with a shitty fast fashion brand, wow 😂 How about we just don't buy anything...
@@toofatforfun it's not better, it's not worse: same kid making the same subpar product. The better choice is to buy as little as possible, and try to find items that last a long time.
my honest thought was that it's too expensive for people to buy the real thing - so they buy dupes instead. it's a fair point that people actively seek out the trends, whilst holding disdain towards the luxury brands too.
In Italy, in the 50s, women were just as vain as they are today, but money was short. A lower middle-class working woman like my mother would have one single skirt suit for important events, three or four skirts, four shirts, two or three jumpers. One heavy coat and a medium weight coat for spring/autumn. Three pair of shoes and a single handbag. All of that could be held in a two-door wardrobe with two drawers for underwear and tights. That was normal. Even with a long-term job, you could afford little more than that. Today I hear people always complaining about having no money and yet their wardrobes are bursting with low quality outfits. P.S. most of those garments were made by a seamstress who would make sure that those few garments my mother could afford would suit her body shape to perfection. My mother used to have an excellent deportment and most of the times she looked like a model in those bespoke outfits.
And then there’s me, I have no idea about most fashion so if I went to Amazon and bought a pair of shoes that were a dupe of famous shoes I likely wouldn’t know it.
This is me! I don't have any desire in wearing something that looks like a designer product. I think that's tacky to knock off another product and pretend you're wearing the more expensive brand. But the problem is that sometimes I just like something and want to buy it and then I find out later that it's a super trending knockoff on TikTok 😂🙄
I really wish that the fashion of repairing better quality clothing would come back mainstream. I have been purchasing better quality items for the past few years and last year I only purchased a couple of items. I hope to purchase next to nothing this year!
I agree! I've been able to find a good seamstress and cobbler, who can fix anything made out of leather, bags, belts, shoes, etc. but finding these types of professionals is really hard. I was just looking online for sewing classes. Good luck with your buy nothing year!
It's good if you live along the border, you can find those type of people in Mexico, that's my case as I go and do those activities in Tecate and not in San Diegi@jeannesutter4951
Dupes/reps/knockoffs (imo) became popular because people realized you can get a 1:1 copy for x100 less and no one’s going to know…there’s so many websites to get 1:1 jackets, bags or shoes and their made in different factories yes but their made with the same materials and there’s dupes that are a little more , a couple hundred and are exactly the same down to ever stitch
So yes, fast fashion is bad. Cheap dupes are generally bad too. However, the argument here seems to be that dupes and knockoffs aren't actually putting a dent in billionaires' pockets, and the only reason you suggest that people buy dupes is to "fit in" or look cool, and I don't think that's true either. Many of these "dupe" brands don't only sell dupes, or they're not obvious as dupes. If I buy jeans on Shein because I need pants and they look good, knowing that they're Levi's dupes doesn't matter, being dupes or not doesn't really matter- you still need to wear clothes. Buying $20 pants from Walmart instead of buying from Shein because they make dupes doesn't even matter. The fact is, we're at a point in society where the wealth gap is so large that the affordable products for people are often made under bad worker conditions using cheap materials that are bad for the environment. Yes, reducing consumption is the ideal here, but that can only go so far. At some point, most people are going to have to buy new clothes because theirs either don't fit or are worn out and they can't mend them, and the budget options are rarely if ever ethical. Without the ability to buy longer-lasting quality pieces because they cost significantly more, these brands are going to exist and thrive. We can't fix this unless we fix the wealth inequality first.
“Reps” (replicas) have become extremely popular in the sneaker community since it’s become so difficult to purchase cool, trendy sneakers at their retail price whenever you want. So young people have resorted to purchasing replicas aka knockoffs for affordability and to feel included. Resellers have also been passing off reps as the real thing to make money off of marked up prices of the real shoe. The consumer on the receiving end of that gets scammed (they willingly paid the marker up price). Nike is suing Stockx for selling fake sneakers as they are supposed to authenticate sneakers that resellers bring in to be sold through them. Apparently whoever is making a lot of these replicas, they’re really good and hard to distinguish.
this is crazy because for more hyped shoes, their reps will literally go for MSRP! but I'm sure that seems like a steal to a true fan of the style since the gen shoe would get 10x it's price on the after market
In Australia, “ugg” is just a generic term for the style of boot. Later on, a company from California called itself “UGG Australia”, registered “UGG” as a trademark, and then their parent company starts suing Australian boot manufacturers for accuracy describing their products as “ugg boots”
The real way to be apart of dupe culture is find what you want, research the origins and then buy used / vintage versions of the items + get them tailored to a specific, trendy, fit if needed. This way your style can stay "relevant" and probably get higher quality pieces that you love.
The only "fashion" I buy new are the items that nobody really sees, i.e. underwear, socks, etc. Maybe a pair of sneakers every 5 or 6 years. Everything else is second hand. Vapor thrift stores are bursting at the seams with good quality items, at affordable prices. And the last time I watched a fashion influencer video was, uhm, never! Such a waste of time and brain cells.
Honestly now that buying second hand is seen as "trendy" rather than trashy (eyeroll) there's sooo many secondhand options popping up all over the place and consuming this way is becoming even more common. Hopefully we keep pushing fashion into this direction and let off on the dupe culture but we'll see!
Actually not all dupes are bad quality. I have dupes that are great, last me for ages (5 years and counting for leggings!) and I don't see any reason to avoid them as long as you are not overconsuming!
Me too. My favourite t-shirt is a knock-off Lacoste polo that my uncle got me on a vacation in Thailand from a street vendor. It´s 15 effing years old, worn and washed a thousand times, and it still looks new. I think it might actually be better than the original.
Great watch as always 👊🏿. I like knockoffs coz they offer people an alternative cheap option to some of the stuff that gets overvalued on brand names but it always confuses me why the people who buy knock offs just don't buy the regular cheap options coz you can easily find cool reasonably priced stuff without having to find something that appears to be brand xyz but I guess it's human nature to want to follow and chase the made up trends.
I'm gonna be honest, as long as someone buys clothing that they are going to genuinely use and knows how to debunk the claims of brands that they buy from, I don’t consider it an issue if someone buys a knockoff product.
I like a bag company out of London, UK. Their bags are easily $400+ each. I buy second-hand on eBay and they arrive new-to-me and in great condition. I own 4 of said bags for under $150 total. Secondhand is my first choice nowadays.
Yet still people think it is the 1950s and you are saving money by making your own clothes (or they can save money by getting you to sew for them). Even without factoring in anything but materials sewing my own clothes is only cheaper compared to paying a tailor/seamstress to make something equivalent to the custom item I can make, it's definitely not possible to compete with major brands on price so it's only worth it if you can make something of better quality.
@@ElizabethJones-pv3sj Exactly. There are a lot of good reasons for sewing your own clothes, but 'cheaper' is most definitely not one of them. Which is a really sad reminder of how extremely exploited the workers are, and how our individual actions won't really change the system.
Knockoffs and dupes are the same thing - brandless products sold through legal channels. If it copies the designer logo and is sold through gray/black market channels then it's counterfeit.
I just discovered your channel this evening , and I really enjoyed the informative but also witty way you approach all your subject matter. Great choice of topics as well. Keep it up with the awesome content. You definitely got my subscription and likes from now on!
This will be an interesting ongoing topic as it is one of the most interesting anthropological subjects but as a guy who loves sneakers and works as a creative director, it's common to see creators make or support their friends' dupes and justify themselves saying support small businesses stealing from corporates for the people (we are robin hood) narrative but when they become rich and famous, they frown upon small businesses that makes dupes of their products and uses their fandom to attack them or cry about how much blood sweat and tears goes into making designs......huh?
Wow I just remembered I used to visit a website that was dedicated to dupes of eyeshadows, lipsticks, blush. Every time a palette or a single come out from Natasha Denona or Anastasia Beverly Hills, I would be sitting in front of a monitor scrolling for hours looking at one shade of orange, and comparing all the other similar shade of orange from other companies reading reviews of texture, blendibility, shimmer, vibrance, etc etc. omg the insanity of finding that dupe. It was pretty normal to end up with 10 slightly different shades of orange, or brown, it’s like Sherwin-Williams but for make up.
Young people mock boomers for believing everything they see on Facebook, bu themselves believe everything UA-camrs or tik tok say , critical thinking is dying day by day.
Talking about DIY stuff, what is the impact of 3D printing for the environment? I don't have a 3D printer, but I see value in making your own stuff or repair using 3D printed parts vs getting something to replace
Seeing as you mentioned uggs a couple times, maybe you should do a video on how ugg boots is a generic term that Deckers trademarked and began bullying and suing small independent makers of ugg boots. I would argue to avoid buying the "UGG" brand which is made in China and buy from a smaller shoe maker.
I’m 55. If I could give anything (except a sustainable environment - that’s pretty much water under the bridge) to younger generations, it would be this: none of this shit matters AT ALL. The only thing that really matters are the people we love and care about. But what they wear, what they drive, how much money they have (above basic necessities) also does not matter AT ALL. Status seeking is a totally empty, dead-end effort programmed into us by people who want our money. Set yourself free of the endless bullshit.
You are inaccurate on some of the definitions: Knock off: Direct copy. Different name Counterfeit:Direct copy, same name Dupe: self-admitting knock-offs
I’m cool with dupes of large fashion brand items, I usually buy them or items from the thrift store when buying new clothes, but I don’t buy many new clothes and mostly buy what I want to wear
Walmart & Amazon became mega empires prying on people being duped - unfortunately, price will always be king above all else despite quality and ethics.
Yeah, dupes are depressing: they are trying to say 'hey, I don't need high fashion to look stylish", and yet, at the same time they *need* high fashion so they have the style to copy off of. Really??? [insert face palm].
I think there is some subtlety missed in dupes ARE fast fashions. Most of the denim jackets out there could technically be considered dupes of Levi's types 1 through 3, and very wildly in quality
There is one mistruth here, Ugg Boots have been around in Australia and New Zealand for decades before UGG copyrighted the brand. No one here buys Uggs, Ugg boots because they are the fake.
I only buy 2 types of clothes: 1-Sport clothes, those i buy in a sport store that sells things made by them. The quality is even better than brands like addidas, puma, etc. They don't have any branding, but i don't care since at the end of the workout i will be drenched in sweat. 2-Clothes for my daily life from 2 stores. Those 2 stores are mid tier stores. Not so cheap but not expensive. And the quality is amazing. I have some shirts and sweaters from years ago. The only thing i need to change regularly is the jeans since i get a big hole in between the legs (since my legs are huge and muscular, so there is a lot of friction), but even then 1 pair lasts me in average 1 year. I only buy clothes at the end of the season because there are promotions (50% off), and only if I need them, otherwise there is no point.
I think the word “dupe” came in vogue with cosmetics. In the mid 200010s there was such a craze for designer make up, then smaller indie brands (Make Geek, ColorPop, Colour Raine, etc) start selling eyeshadows or lipsticks of better quality at lower prices. Especially with eyeshadows because dramatic smoky eye was such a big thing, when an Indie brand releases a Single (one small tin of a single color eyeshadow) with vibrant color and long staying power people lost their shit. I was one of them. Then I started to hear the word dupe more and more with skin care products, and I guess it bled into tangential fields like fashion eventually.
I wouldn't say that dupes are a "badge of honor", but it IS seen as smart by some people because you spent less money on essentially the same product. Knockoffs of designer purses and jewelry has also become popular because their prices have increased astronomically in the past few years, while their quality has not. Authentic designer purses for example are often seen as "not worth the price" when you can get a knockoff that's reasonably close enough in quality to match if you know where to shop. (I'm not talking about Shein/Amazon) I wouldn't say buying dupes is about eschewing the trends, either... it's totally that people want to buy into it. It's just too expensive to buy the legitimate brand, and not seen as "worth it" by most average people. I agree that the fast fashion dupes are almost never good, but those aren't the only dupes out there. Hell, even some of the authentic brands have severely fallen in quality over the years, Doc Martens being a great example of that, and that encourages more people to find and buy dupes of those types of products.
I hate counterfeiting. Call it what you will. Absolutely stifles innovation and destroys the middle players. We have developed a culture of such self entitlement that we get angry at manufacturers for pricing things outside our budget. To satiate our anger we buy the cheaper copies. How do you think the copies are made so cheaply? Big business is not innocent in the game of exploitation but they are nothing compared to the copy companies operating in the shadows. Save the planet, save people - consume less.
I somewhat agree, but Tommy Bahama for Instance, has some of the most comfortable shirts I’ve worn and the only 2xlts that I can find that fit me exact
Knockoffs became so popular because, if you know what you're doing, you spend less for similar quality. You don't pay for the brand name. A genuine shirt with Nike logo costs 10x as much as a logo-less shirt off the same factory.
Ok one thing I think you got wrong here or missed is the quality or perceived quality of dupes. Influencers recommend dupes because the quality and effectiveness is supposed to be on par of the original. Now who knows if that’s accurate but for some shoppers that’s the intention at least. I don’t think a big majority of dupe shoppers or purchasing to “subvert” designer brands. They’re purchasing it because it’s a cheaper version.
some people carry dupe designer bags for decades like my late maternal grandmother did a dupe quilted Chanel bag for over 30 years. she couldn't afford a real Chanel bag
I don't buy into all that high fashion trendiness bullshit, which is why I'm going to buy cheap imitations of the those exact pieces of clothing. It really makes no sense. If they really want to show how they're not taken in by all that, the real move is-as you suggest-to opt for alternatives to that entire paradigm of buying clothing.
I have had a pair of UGG short boots since they came out and I like them. But I absolutely love my fuggs and I have two pair now. I live at the beach, fuggs can be washed in the washer as they are synthetic, so when they get to scuzzy from the dogs or sand or salty musky smells, I can simply throw them in a cold water wash and let them air dry. Can’t do that with real sheepskin. There are also practical reasons to liking knock offs.
I'm 100% against dupes. Because they don't have to pay for the designs or marketing, they should offer better quality products, but they do the opposite. In my opinion, that makes them as greedy as the brands they are copying. If you want to fight large and overpriced brands, buy something original from companies that offer good quality for a fair price.
I don't use Tiktok and I don't pay attention to fashion. I just wear clothes until they break. Sometimes if I'm bored I'll fix the holes in my underwear.
I love UGG boots because they are so comfortable in the winter. But I find the price ridiculous, and you can find great dupes for $70, for the same quality, so... 🤷🏻♀️ I don't buy clothes and shoes on Shein though, I prefer going in physical stores.
Ive got the problem where the Dupes carry my size while the actual brands do not. Im just really tiny, and the smallest big name brands carry (shoes, clothes, etc) is too big for me, while the dupes have my size and fit
The thing I understand less is the whole "I didn't fall for their marketing, I brought a dupe"... Then yes, you fell for the marketing, you just didn't like the price tag, because otherwise you wouldn't be getting a knock off you'd be getting something completely different from a sustainable or affordable brand
Not to mention the top brand quality as gone down the shitter. 30 years ago brands like LV and Gucci are sweatshop items all except their tiptop stuff.
Still waiting for the day that these "dupe" people realize that wearing casual and timeless clothes will always look better than dressed in cheap dupes and pretending to be something you are not. I would never judge anyone wearing Uniqlo or H&M basics, but I can't help judging people that buy knockoffs or just exact replicas/ripoffs of a current trend. Wearing a trendy piece means nothing if the seams and fabric are cheap looking.
The first time someone was saying 'hey look at me being contrarion, buying the fake and bragging instead of hiding' it was kinda cool and brave. Nowadays you're just another poor kid pretending to be too cool to want the expensive stuff.
If you have tried wearing authentic brand-name clothing, you probably can't return back to dupe products. The quality and aesthetic difference is just too massive.
The only "designer" thing I own is a pair of Rayban Wayfarers that I didn't even buy. A family member found them at work and gave them to me since I was eyeballing buying that exact pair.
So the real question that should be asked is 'is this item of clothing sustainable?' Because both fast fashion, designer and a lot of mid range fashion companies are OBSESSED with using polyester even though it's totally unsustainable and polluting the planet with microplastics. It is far more ethical to buy a basic $5.00 100% cotton t-shirt or jeans from a big box retailer then a designer top that is really just plastic. Buying less clothes and investing in natural materials like cotton, silk, viscose, wool and leather not only leads to items lasting longer but makes them easier to repair and recycle. So rather than caring about brands and if a item is designer or a dupe people should shop based on what it's made from, country of origin and certifications like Fair Trade, GOTS or OkoTex labels. So for example Ugg boots are a type of boot made from Australian sheepskin. Any made without this are not 'dupes' they are counterfeit products that don't support Australian farmers.
idk why people buy into ultra fast fashion. in design history there’s a giant term pair called form and function, and microtrends forgo the latter for the first
When it comes to clothes I don't care about trends or what designer brands are doing. Some of them are stealing pattern designs from much smaller creators btw. Luxury brands aren't even quality anymore in many cases so you can't pay more to have an item that will last for decades with proper care, which was supposed to be the point once. I really dislike companies like H&M and Ikea too because they steal designs from others, both big and small brands and make inferior products. When it comes to furniture and lamps and stuff it will be worse. The Ikea lamp that is stolen from a classic Scandinavian design house will have the same silhouette, but the components that made the design one great will be of inferior quality and different as to not be a complete knock off and the lamp will start to wobble and probably not last your whole life and get passed down to future generations. If I see cheap furniture in a style that I like I type in a description in web search and often find the original much more expensive product. Which has small differences in components etc and has someone who has actually created that design. I'm not rich but I don't want to reward people who steal others ideas and designs and make low quality knock offs.
Let me tell you two things, I don’t Pursue all the hyped brands. And the one time I intentionally bought a fake was because the blanstone fake actually fit my legs better then the original.
That Dupe philosophy was so ridiculous, “I reject big brands but still follow their trends” the actual cool thing to do is express your individuality
Super agree with this, we've kinda lost the messaging here !!
Expressing your individuality is overrated.
Kinda, but you can just buy second hand clothes. Any style you preffer and ethically-safe-option
It just shows that very few people actually think. Period. People are being manipulated even when they think they're not.
Or maybe they're just not affordable?
What i hate is that most of my local 2nd hand stores are now FULL of shein and low quality crap. Going to vintage resell shops is way too expensive
Yeah, that's definitely happening all over the place unfortunately. There's a conversation to be had here about buying these items secondhand so they don't go straight to landfill but we're still kind of encouraging overconsumption if we do that since we'd have to be repurchasing these items more frequently.... Let us know your thoughts on this below!
@@FutureProofTV there is no hope.
Are you sure I can’t interest you in a $120 vintage high school letterman cardigan?
I'm managed to score a pair of river island jeans in my favourite charity shop, there's still hope
Even found a really good leather jacket but I wasn't looking for a high quality leather jacket like that, and it was incredibly heavy, I don't know how but it was more heavy than my half maincune cat
You are right, it's like Halloween costumes from the 90's are now today's 'high quality' merchandise
Dupe is more commonly used term in makeup and perfume. Like "this cheap eyeliner has a similar formula to and works just as well as that really expensive one." In that case, it's not a product being made to copy another at all. It just happens to work out like that.
yes! here to say that… i’ve seen things referred as a dupe when they have the same characteristics, just like you say. Same function, and perhaps even better quality for a lower price.
that's white-labelling in some cases, and off-branding in others. A "dupe" is just shortened "duplicate" which, by definition doesn't fit your classification because it IS intentional.
@@Anaphriel The word dupe is used All The Time in regards to makeup like I described. Whether or not thats the original meaning is irrelevant.
Yeah perfume is a big one. I'm a guy, but I took the time and learned about perfume oil concentrations and the differences between eau fraiche, aftershave, ed cologne, ed toilette, ed parfum, and parfum. I mostly own perfumes. It has nothing to do with perfume vs cologne, but oil concentration and how long it stays on your skin and how much silage it produces. Perfumes are what I see the most dupes in. Its very easy for people to pick out the notes in perfume and recreate them to nearly identical. I don't necessarily buy one of the other (dupe vs brand) as I see a need for both. Sometimes I'm willing to drop 400$ on a Maison Francis Baccarat Rouge 540, and other times I'm not willing to drop more than 90$ for a few oz of a knockoff perfume.
@@vultureblockchain8320
I agree with you on the that. I only buy plant based perfume due to my mom's allergies. But I will spend the money on a nice one but also buy something more affordable. I like what I like and just not interested in some of those animal based ingredients as I feel if I wouldn't want to touch it why should I wear it.
I have my best friend living in China for 12 years now and a couple years ago he discovered a knockoff factory for designer bags in which the guys were taking the same leathers, zippers, and everything from the same producers as, for example, Louis Vuitton does. Their knockoffs are practically indistinguishable from the originals. We've brought a couple (paid $250 a pop, from the factory! Super expensive for a knockoff product) and gave them to some women with huge experience in this stuff and they were shocked. 100% same as the originals.
I feel like pre recession a lot more people were judgmental of those who couldn’t afford designer clothing and bags, but after the 08 recession and also during the covid 19 pandemic, less people can afford the real deal and now it’s more about saving money than being able to afford designer shit
That’s a super good point. The flex doesn’t mean what it did before either. 👀
You're acting like there aren't non-designer/dupe clothing and bags.
@@MayTheSchwartzBeWithYou I’m just going off my experience growing up in the early 2000’s
If it is "designer shit" why buying dupes when you can simply buy normal no logo stuff ?
@@idraote because you were made of fun for that too.
Just to point out: UGGs themselves are technically a dupe of Uggboots, an Australian fashion item that was sold simply as "Uggboots". They simply put a label on it and sold it in America, even their brand name was a dupe of the name "uggboots". The name for the fashion item came before the brand name!
That’s completely false. You’re very wrong.
No, he's not. Australians have been wearing sheepskin boots for decades, well before Americans came and stole the trademark
@walterwalkman they’re really not. It makes me laugh when I hear about kids in America getting mad about getting the ‘dupe’ for Christmas or birthdays, because the UGG Australia brand that’s such a big deal over there is actually an American dupe of the Australian uggs.
Greed is what is going on. Workers can’t afford the designer prices. Thus the success of Shein and Wish. It’s a race to the bottom.
2 fast 2 furious 2 the bottom…
Designer isn't the only authentic option. Dupes are for insecure kids who care more about imitating style than actually having affordable, high-quality clothing.
The only way Shein cloth are that cheap is because they not paying there work. Or running unlicensed factory so health and safety and regulations don't apply
The luxury fashion brands are selling Shein and Wish quality products at luxury fashion prices. What do they expect? Knock-offs are inevitable.
@@afctaylor12 sure except that as this channel has covered, big name brands aren't any better about paying workers or having good work conditions.
I’m so glad that I don’t care for fashion trends, it just makes life so much more easier to endure.
It saves me sooooooo much money to Genuinely Not Care about that stuff.
(But if other people do care that's fine too, such people aren't inherently stupid, everyone should be allowed to have some silly hobbies without getting mocked)
Just a note, the UGG example is a bad example. UGG is a generic term for a style of shoe. It's just that Deckers outdoor products gained a monopoly on the trademark. So much so that the original Australian manufacturers can't sell their goods outside of their own country
Once more sustainable brands start making clothing in my size (tall, size 16, shoe 12) I'm all in. But most more ethical brands tend to ignore people like me exsist. Fast fashion brands and learning to sew are really my only options for everyday clothes.
And don't talk to me about shoes, lol
Westernwear, especially vintage westernwear, is your answer. I just sold a pair of roper brand jeans from the 90's that were size 17 and built for someone who was over 6 foot and all leg, and that was considered entirely unremarkable for the market. And this wasn't some mens wrangler style clothing that was built for a brick outhouse on legs, they were form fitting and really beautiful all while being made of a denim that still looked crisp and new after 30 years of use.
@Cooper Wiggins Thank you for the suggestion! I live in New England and work in an office, so western wear isn't my first choice. Might be good for a pair of jeans.
True. I am 6'4 75kg after 37years and I have no idea where to buy freaking clothes 😞
@@rileyinbali The Netherlands :)
I just had to thank you for including the Schmidt's "Youths" video. I love this moment and everytime he says it. I would literally use it everytime if I could and met anyone else who had seen it. I am an old lady in my 30's, so... And please, make the bucket hats end already😄
I think you said "when ugg boots first came out" or similar - when would that be, sonny? Because I was wearing them here in Australia in the 1970s. Every roadside barn through Australia's woolgrowing regions sold them, unbranded, unlabelled. Then a Yank company decided to trademark the name and concept and when challenged in court, they won. The court accepted uggs were a generic product in Australia so the company (I thought it was Teva?) couldn't have sole rights to them here, but they won international rights to the name and product. Now that's a rip-off!
Exactly what I came to say. There's no such thing as a "knock off ugg" because there's no one brand that owns them. Just because someone has decided to take them overseas and pass them off as some fashionable product doesn't make that company's version the "true" ugg.
@@casssowary actually it goes by who is most important ,and uggs are most important
Honestly, just being made of genuine (non-synthetic) materials should be the cutoff point for "ugg boots"
Zara is infamous for copying small, independent designer's work for their big lines (with no credit or compensation being given, of course)
Has this channel ever done an episode about charcoal products like facial masks and toothpaste? Knowing how well you guys research all this stuff, I'm extremely curious to know if it's effective, but more importantly safe to use/consume.
I can really recommend a video from the german channel "mailab". maybe it will work with subtitles for you. just search "mailab aktivkohle"
Hmm we have not but that's a fantastic subject to cover! We've just launched Future Proof Health which delves into things more along these lines, so we might add this topic to our ideas list for that channel. If you're interested in our other channel, we'd love if you checked it out! You might just see a video on charcoal products over there eventually, thanks for the suggestion 🤩
Theres one that is about toothpaste already. The charcoal topic is briefly mentioned though.. so looking forward for a video avout that 🫶🏽
Active charcoal products are hazardous to have as a regular part of your diet because it literally absorbs medications you take as well as nutrition from foods you eat. You don't want mineral/vitamin deficiency!! Medical active charcoal tablets are great to have in your home pharmacy box in case of a kind of poisoning that benefits from charcoal absorption (call your local poisoning/etc hotline first, and explain what the hazardous substance was, as sometimes other household items are better taken or none at all, before you get taken to the hospital if necessary.
The argument that "by buying dupes you're not supporting the shitty designer brands" is so weird to me lmao. So you're replacing a shitty designer brand with a shitty fast fashion brand, wow 😂 How about we just don't buy anything...
I thought the same thing! “I’m original because I don’t support big brands, but still follow their trends”
And you're still reinforcing the trend because people it looks the same! Which drives consumers to buy the original
I've heard that. So you realize some kid is making that $4 shirt for dimes a day while they inhale fumes all day? How is that better?
@@toofatforfun
it's not better, it's not worse: same kid making the same subpar product.
The better choice is to buy as little as possible, and try to find items that last a long time.
my honest thought was that it's too expensive for people to buy the real thing - so they buy dupes instead. it's a fair point that people actively seek out the trends, whilst holding disdain towards the luxury brands too.
In Italy, in the 50s, women were just as vain as they are today, but money was short.
A lower middle-class working woman like my mother would have one single skirt suit for important events, three or four skirts, four shirts, two or three jumpers. One heavy coat and a medium weight coat for spring/autumn. Three pair of shoes and a single handbag.
All of that could be held in a two-door wardrobe with two drawers for underwear and tights.
That was normal. Even with a long-term job, you could afford little more than that.
Today I hear people always complaining about having no money and yet their wardrobes are bursting with low quality outfits.
P.S. most of those garments were made by a seamstress who would make sure that those few garments my mother could afford would suit her body shape to perfection. My mother used to have an excellent deportment and most of the times she looked like a model in those bespoke outfits.
And then there’s me, I have no idea about most fashion so if I went to Amazon and bought a pair of shoes that were a dupe of famous shoes I likely wouldn’t know it.
This is me! I don't have any desire in wearing something that looks like a designer product. I think that's tacky to knock off another product and pretend you're wearing the more expensive brand. But the problem is that sometimes I just like something and want to buy it and then I find out later that it's a super trending knockoff on TikTok 😂🙄
I really wish that the fashion of repairing better quality clothing would come back mainstream. I have been purchasing better quality items for the past few years and last year I only purchased a couple of items. I hope to purchase next to nothing this year!
I agree! I've been able to find a good seamstress and cobbler, who can fix anything made out of leather, bags, belts, shoes, etc. but finding these types of professionals is really hard. I was just looking online for sewing classes. Good luck with your buy nothing year!
It's good if you live along the border, you can find those type of people in Mexico, that's my case as I go and do those activities in Tecate and not in San Diegi@jeannesutter4951
@@Ignaciombrin europe it's mostly turkish immigrants who have opened up tailor-shops
Dupes/reps/knockoffs (imo) became popular because people realized you can get a 1:1 copy for x100 less and no one’s going to know…there’s so many websites to get 1:1 jackets, bags or shoes and their made in different factories yes but their made with the same materials and there’s dupes that are a little more , a couple hundred and are exactly the same down to ever stitch
So yes, fast fashion is bad. Cheap dupes are generally bad too. However, the argument here seems to be that dupes and knockoffs aren't actually putting a dent in billionaires' pockets, and the only reason you suggest that people buy dupes is to "fit in" or look cool, and I don't think that's true either. Many of these "dupe" brands don't only sell dupes, or they're not obvious as dupes. If I buy jeans on Shein because I need pants and they look good, knowing that they're Levi's dupes doesn't matter, being dupes or not doesn't really matter- you still need to wear clothes. Buying $20 pants from Walmart instead of buying from Shein because they make dupes doesn't even matter. The fact is, we're at a point in society where the wealth gap is so large that the affordable products for people are often made under bad worker conditions using cheap materials that are bad for the environment.
Yes, reducing consumption is the ideal here, but that can only go so far. At some point, most people are going to have to buy new clothes because theirs either don't fit or are worn out and they can't mend them, and the budget options are rarely if ever ethical. Without the ability to buy longer-lasting quality pieces because they cost significantly more, these brands are going to exist and thrive. We can't fix this unless we fix the wealth inequality first.
“Reps” (replicas) have become extremely popular in the sneaker community since it’s become so difficult to purchase cool, trendy sneakers at their retail price whenever you want. So young people have resorted to purchasing replicas aka knockoffs for affordability and to feel included. Resellers have also been passing off reps as the real thing to make money off of marked up prices of the real shoe. The consumer on the receiving end of that gets scammed (they willingly paid the marker up price). Nike is suing Stockx for selling fake sneakers as they are supposed to authenticate sneakers that resellers bring in to be sold through them. Apparently whoever is making a lot of these replicas, they’re really good and hard to distinguish.
this is crazy because for more hyped shoes, their reps will literally go for MSRP! but I'm sure that seems like a steal to a true fan of the style since the gen shoe would get 10x it's price on the after market
In Australia, “ugg” is just a generic term for the style of boot.
Later on, a company from California called itself “UGG Australia”, registered “UGG” as a trademark, and then their parent company starts suing Australian boot manufacturers for accuracy describing their products as “ugg boots”
The cognitive dissonance is strong when you buy dupes just to pretend that you don't fall for the marketing tricks of the big names
The real way to be apart of dupe culture is find what you want, research the origins and then buy used / vintage versions of the items + get them tailored to a specific, trendy, fit if needed. This way your style can stay "relevant" and probably get higher quality pieces that you love.
The only "fashion" I buy new are the items that nobody really sees, i.e. underwear, socks, etc. Maybe a pair of sneakers every 5 or 6 years. Everything else is second hand. Vapor thrift stores are bursting at the seams with good quality items, at affordable prices. And the last time I watched a fashion influencer video was, uhm, never! Such a waste of time and brain cells.
Honestly now that buying second hand is seen as "trendy" rather than trashy (eyeroll) there's sooo many secondhand options popping up all over the place and consuming this way is becoming even more common. Hopefully we keep pushing fashion into this direction and let off on the dupe culture but we'll see!
Well there is the threat of filling thrift stores with shein clothing... and we all know the cheap quality and work values they have.
@@FutureProofTV more common, but more expensive :(
No sauce at all
Actually not all dupes are bad quality. I have dupes that are great, last me for ages (5 years and counting for leggings!) and I don't see any reason to avoid them as long as you are not overconsuming!
Me too. My favourite t-shirt is a knock-off Lacoste polo that my uncle got me on a vacation in Thailand from a street vendor. It´s 15 effing years old, worn and washed a thousand times, and it still looks new. I think it might actually be better than the original.
Great watch as always 👊🏿. I like knockoffs coz they offer people an alternative cheap option to some of the stuff that gets overvalued on brand names but it always confuses me why the people who buy knock offs just don't buy the regular cheap options coz you can easily find cool reasonably priced stuff without having to find something that appears to be brand xyz but I guess it's human nature to want to follow and chase the made up trends.
I'm gonna be honest, as long as someone buys clothing that they are going to genuinely use and knows how to debunk the claims of brands that they buy from, I don’t consider it an issue if someone buys a knockoff product.
Guy who used to wear fake Crocs: Cargo pants are ugly. How dare you... 🤣
He probably wore cargo pants with em too 🤷🏻♂️👀
I like a bag company out of London, UK. Their bags are easily $400+ each. I buy second-hand on eBay and they arrive new-to-me and in great condition. I own 4 of said bags for under $150 total. Secondhand is my first choice nowadays.
How authentic are they tho? 🤔
Who knew 20 years ago that sewing your own clothes would become a cool, radical thing.
Yet still people think it is the 1950s and you are saving money by making your own clothes (or they can save money by getting you to sew for them). Even without factoring in anything but materials sewing my own clothes is only cheaper compared to paying a tailor/seamstress to make something equivalent to the custom item I can make, it's definitely not possible to compete with major brands on price so it's only worth it if you can make something of better quality.
@@ElizabethJones-pv3sj
Exactly. There are a lot of good reasons for sewing your own clothes, but 'cheaper' is most definitely not one of them.
Which is a really sad reminder of how extremely exploited the workers are, and how our individual actions won't really change the system.
Knockoffs and dupes are the same thing - brandless products sold through legal channels. If it copies the designer logo and is sold through gray/black market channels then it's counterfeit.
I just discovered your channel this evening , and I really enjoyed the informative but also witty way you approach all your subject matter. Great choice of topics as well. Keep it up with the awesome content. You definitely got my subscription and likes from now on!
Love you, Levi. Don’t worry about sounding like a dad. Just shows that you’re ready.
This will be an interesting ongoing topic as it is one of the most interesting anthropological subjects but as a guy who loves sneakers and works as a creative director, it's common to see creators make or support their friends' dupes and justify themselves saying support small businesses stealing from corporates for the people (we are robin hood) narrative but when they become rich and famous, they frown upon small businesses that makes dupes of their products and uses their fandom to attack them or cry about how much blood sweat and tears goes into making designs......huh?
Second hand doesn't work anymore - people just offload their fast fashion addiction there. Pay more but buy quality/sustainability and make it last.
DON'T BE DUPED BY DUPES.
Mantra 🧘♂
Wow I just remembered I used to visit a website that was dedicated to dupes of eyeshadows, lipsticks, blush. Every time a palette or a single come out from Natasha Denona or Anastasia Beverly Hills, I would be sitting in front of a monitor scrolling for hours looking at one shade of orange, and comparing all the other similar shade of orange from other companies reading reviews of texture, blendibility, shimmer, vibrance, etc etc. omg the insanity of finding that dupe. It was pretty normal to end up with 10 slightly different shades of orange, or brown, it’s like Sherwin-Williams but for make up.
Always brilliant commentary and thought-provoking provocations without preaching. Love this channel.
Wow, thanks for the support dude!! Love havin' ya here 😁
If you're buying an outfit that isn't replacing an old outfit that is worn out, you're doing it wrong.
Influencers are the one who control what we want in the social media world.
Ugh I really hope not…
Speak for yourself sheep
@@OM-bs7of I have been manipulated by Chick-fil-A through their food chemicals
Young people mock boomers for believing everything they see on Facebook, bu themselves believe everything UA-camrs or tik tok say , critical thinking is dying day by day.
Talking about DIY stuff, what is the impact of 3D printing for the environment? I don't have a 3D printer, but I see value in making your own stuff or repair using 3D printed parts vs getting something to replace
Seeing as you mentioned uggs a couple times, maybe you should do a video on how ugg boots is a generic term that Deckers trademarked and began bullying and suing small independent makers of ugg boots. I would argue to avoid buying the "UGG" brand which is made in China and buy from a smaller shoe maker.
I’m 55. If I could give anything (except a sustainable environment - that’s pretty much water under the bridge) to younger generations, it would be this: none of this shit matters AT ALL. The only thing that really matters are the people we love and care about. But what they wear, what they drive, how much money they have (above basic necessities) also does not matter AT ALL. Status seeking is a totally empty, dead-end effort programmed into us by people who want our money. Set yourself free of the endless bullshit.
Levi mind-reader confirmed! Levi makes a statement, i have an opinion or critique, 5min later Levi states exactly what i thought
You are inaccurate on some of the definitions:
Knock off: Direct copy. Different name
Counterfeit:Direct copy, same name
Dupe: self-admitting knock-offs
I’m cool with dupes of large fashion brand items, I usually buy them or items from the thrift store when buying new clothes, but I don’t buy many new clothes and mostly buy what I want to wear
Slow fashion brand suggestions??
Personally a fan thrifting bc that's 90 percent of my clothes/shoes.
Honestly find the ones that are local to you or you connect with online. We don’t have an exhaustive list but that’s a good place to start 🥰👍🏼
I don't care about sustainability, brands, condition of workers crap. Just cheap use and throw stuff. I love dupes and knock offs.
I prefer slow fashion, less cloths but better quality. In the long term you save money and you always look good.
Walmart & Amazon became mega empires prying on people being duped - unfortunately, price will always be king above all else despite quality and ethics.
I got to say growing up in the 90s in Australia Ugg boot dupes were everywhere in winter. Kmart had them, Big W had them….. as were Dr Martin dupes…
Yeah, dupes are depressing: they are trying to say 'hey, I don't need high fashion to look stylish", and yet, at the same time they *need* high fashion so they have the style to copy off of. Really??? [insert face palm].
I think there is some subtlety missed in dupes ARE fast fashions. Most of the denim jackets out there could technically be considered dupes of Levi's types 1 through 3, and very wildly in quality
Original Levis are probably now dupes of their own original jackets 20 years ago
There is one mistruth here, Ugg Boots have been around in Australia and New Zealand for decades before UGG copyrighted the brand. No one here buys Uggs, Ugg boots because they are the fake.
It's hard to believe, but I still repair my clothes and wear it for years
Reminder that Shein steals not only from big fashion brands but also small fashion designers from Etsy and such.
I only buy 2 types of clothes:
1-Sport clothes, those i buy in a sport store that sells things made by them. The quality is even better than brands like addidas, puma, etc. They don't have any branding, but i don't care since at the end of the workout i will be drenched in sweat.
2-Clothes for my daily life from 2 stores. Those 2 stores are mid tier stores. Not so cheap but not expensive. And the quality is amazing. I have some shirts and sweaters from years ago. The only thing i need to change regularly is the jeans since i get a big hole in between the legs (since my legs are huge and muscular, so there is a lot of friction), but even then 1 pair lasts me in average 1 year.
I only buy clothes at the end of the season because there are promotions (50% off), and only if I need them, otherwise there is no point.
I think the word “dupe” came in vogue with cosmetics. In the mid 200010s there was such a craze for designer make up, then smaller indie brands (Make Geek, ColorPop, Colour Raine, etc) start selling eyeshadows or lipsticks of better quality at lower prices. Especially with eyeshadows because dramatic smoky eye was such a big thing, when an Indie brand releases a Single (one small tin of a single color eyeshadow) with vibrant color and long staying power people lost their shit. I was one of them. Then I started to hear the word dupe more and more with skin care products, and I guess it bled into tangential fields like fashion eventually.
I wouldn't say that dupes are a "badge of honor", but it IS seen as smart by some people because you spent less money on essentially the same product. Knockoffs of designer purses and jewelry has also become popular because their prices have increased astronomically in the past few years, while their quality has not. Authentic designer purses for example are often seen as "not worth the price" when you can get a knockoff that's reasonably close enough in quality to match if you know where to shop. (I'm not talking about Shein/Amazon)
I wouldn't say buying dupes is about eschewing the trends, either... it's totally that people want to buy into it. It's just too expensive to buy the legitimate brand, and not seen as "worth it" by most average people. I agree that the fast fashion dupes are almost never good, but those aren't the only dupes out there. Hell, even some of the authentic brands have severely fallen in quality over the years, Doc Martens being a great example of that, and that encourages more people to find and buy dupes of those types of products.
Levi, interested topic! Would have been interesting to hear your thoughts on 'Bootleg' clothing, which is another sub category of 'fakes' again.
9:20 I thought I was watching a mid roll ad. Great editing editors.
I can’t wait for the baby product vids. It’s crazy out here as a parent
I loved the editing😂😂😂
As an Australian I see Ugg's as a knockoff of 1980's bogan fashion with a trademark slapped onto a generic name
I hate counterfeiting. Call it what you will. Absolutely stifles innovation and destroys the middle players. We have developed a culture of such self entitlement that we get angry at manufacturers for pricing things outside our budget. To satiate our anger we buy the cheaper copies. How do you think the copies are made so cheaply? Big business is not innocent in the game of exploitation but they are nothing compared to the copy companies operating in the shadows. Save the planet, save people - consume less.
I somewhat agree, but Tommy Bahama for Instance, has some of the most comfortable shirts I’ve worn and the only 2xlts that I can find that fit me exact
Knockoffs became so popular because, if you know what you're doing, you spend less for similar quality.
You don't pay for the brand name.
A genuine shirt with Nike logo costs 10x as much as a logo-less shirt off the same factory.
Ok one thing I think you got wrong here or missed is the quality or perceived quality of dupes. Influencers recommend dupes because the quality and effectiveness is supposed to be on par of the original. Now who knows if that’s accurate but for some shoppers that’s the intention at least. I don’t think a big majority of dupe shoppers or purchasing to “subvert” designer brands. They’re purchasing it because it’s a cheaper version.
some people carry dupe designer bags for decades like my late maternal grandmother did a dupe quilted Chanel bag for over 30 years. she couldn't afford a real Chanel bag
I don't buy into all that high fashion trendiness bullshit, which is why I'm going to buy cheap imitations of the those exact pieces of clothing.
It really makes no sense. If they really want to show how they're not taken in by all that, the real move is-as you suggest-to opt for alternatives to that entire paradigm of buying clothing.
i wish you had talked about the correlation between knockoffs and terrorism/other illegal activities in this video as well
I have had a pair of UGG short boots since they came out and I like them. But I absolutely love my fuggs and I have two pair now. I live at the beach, fuggs can be washed in the washer as they are synthetic, so when they get to scuzzy from the dogs or sand or salty musky smells, I can simply throw them in a cold water wash and let them air dry. Can’t do that with real sheepskin. There are also practical reasons to liking knock offs.
I'm 100% against dupes. Because they don't have to pay for the designs or marketing, they should offer better quality products, but they do the opposite. In my opinion, that makes them as greedy as the brands they are copying. If you want to fight large and overpriced brands, buy something original from companies that offer good quality for a fair price.
I don't use Tiktok and I don't pay attention to fashion. I just wear clothes until they break. Sometimes if I'm bored I'll fix the holes in my underwear.
I love UGG boots because they are so comfortable in the winter. But I find the price ridiculous, and you can find great dupes for $70, for the same quality, so... 🤷🏻♀️ I don't buy clothes and shoes on Shein though, I prefer going in physical stores.
I don’t have any friends, I only just buy whatever I need and looks good to me.
Ive got the problem where the Dupes carry my size while the actual brands do not. Im just really tiny, and the smallest big name brands carry (shoes, clothes, etc) is too big for me, while the dupes have my size and fit
The thing I understand less is the whole "I didn't fall for their marketing, I brought a dupe"... Then yes, you fell for the marketing, you just didn't like the price tag, because otherwise you wouldn't be getting a knock off you'd be getting something completely different from a sustainable or affordable brand
Not to mention the top brand quality as gone down the shitter. 30 years ago brands like LV and Gucci are sweatshop items all except their tiptop stuff.
8:00 you're acting like the expensive designer clothes isn't also cheaply made by slave labor.
Still waiting for the day that these "dupe" people realize that wearing casual and timeless clothes will always look better than dressed in cheap dupes and pretending to be something you are not. I would never judge anyone wearing Uniqlo or H&M basics, but I can't help judging people that buy knockoffs or just exact replicas/ripoffs of a current trend. Wearing a trendy piece means nothing if the seams and fabric are cheap looking.
The first time someone was saying 'hey look at me being contrarion, buying the fake and bragging instead of hiding' it was kinda cool and brave.
Nowadays you're just another poor kid pretending to be too cool to want the expensive stuff.
Great messege and one of your best videos yet!
Cargo pants will never go away... they are simply the best, as they are utilitarian.
As soon as you took a breath at 2:04 a Shein ad popped up on the bottom of my screen 😂
If you have tried wearing authentic brand-name clothing, you probably can't return back to dupe products. The quality and aesthetic difference is just too massive.
No lol
the cope
Looking forward to a Future Proof episode filmed in a Prius! Come on, do it, I challenge you Levi!
The only "designer" thing I own is a pair of Rayban Wayfarers that I didn't even buy. A family member found them at work and gave them to me since I was eyeballing buying that exact pair.
So the real question that should be asked is 'is this item of clothing sustainable?' Because both fast fashion, designer and a lot of mid range fashion companies are OBSESSED with using polyester even though it's totally unsustainable and polluting the planet with microplastics. It is far more ethical to buy a basic $5.00 100% cotton t-shirt or jeans from a big box retailer then a designer top that is really just plastic. Buying less clothes and investing in natural materials like cotton, silk, viscose, wool and leather not only leads to items lasting longer but makes them easier to repair and recycle. So rather than caring about brands and if a item is designer or a dupe people should shop based on what it's made from, country of origin and certifications like Fair Trade, GOTS or OkoTex labels. So for example Ugg boots are a type of boot made from Australian sheepskin. Any made without this are not 'dupes' they are counterfeit products that don't support Australian farmers.
The quality part may not matter much if you’re only using the article occasionally. If you just wear it for special events, it serves its purpose.
At 9:39: I like the fact you use a image from Paris Business District (La Défense) when you are Canadian 😂
idk why people buy into ultra fast fashion. in design history there’s a giant term pair called form and function, and microtrends forgo the latter for the first
Fake it till you make it!! is the new mantra by which influencers try to get rich, kinda ironic
you've made a video on Fjällräven, now we need a video on Lundhags
1:37 EVERYONE AT MY OFFICE FOR SOME REASON
Absolutely *no one* was wearing crocs, authentic or otherwise, in the early 2000s lmaooo
Levi saying that he likes to accidentally dad in these videos but forgetting that his job has been Internet Dad for years 🤔
Aussie surfers in the 70s popularized these as a post surf warm up. They are hideous IMHO - but people keep buying them!
When it comes to clothes I don't care about trends or what designer brands are doing. Some of them are stealing pattern designs from much smaller creators btw. Luxury brands aren't even quality anymore in many cases so you can't pay more to have an item that will last for decades with proper care, which was supposed to be the point once.
I really dislike companies like H&M and Ikea too because they steal designs from others, both big and small brands and make inferior products.
When it comes to furniture and lamps and stuff it will be worse. The Ikea lamp that is stolen from a classic Scandinavian design house will have the same silhouette, but the components that made the design one great will be of inferior quality and different as to not be a complete knock off and the lamp will start to wobble and probably not last your whole life and get passed down to future generations.
If I see cheap furniture in a style that I like I type in a description in web search and often find the original much more expensive product. Which has small differences in components etc and has someone who has actually created that design. I'm not rich but I don't want to reward people who steal others ideas and designs and make low quality knock offs.
Let me tell you two things, I don’t Pursue all the hyped brands.
And the one time I intentionally bought a fake was because the blanstone fake actually fit my legs better then the original.