The New York Times: Inside the Knockoff-Tennis-Shoe Factory

The business of counterfeit goods is becoming bigger than most of the industries that they replicate. This is the case with the footwear industry, as more and more sneakers are duplicated and sold for a fraction of the retail price. The New York Times goes in depth with the new article “Inside the Knockoff-Tennis-Shoe-Factory” profiling an Italian shopkeeper who unsuspectingly placed a Nike Tempo shoe order with a Chinese factory that took the shoes blueprint and created over 3,000 clones of the original sneaker. During the mid-1990’s, factory’s began to emerge specializing in knocking off brands such as adidas, Puma and the most replicated Nike. It’s estimated that for every one shoe created legitimately that two knock-offs are created.

The article in its entirety can be read here.