The Secret of Fake Sneakers Workshop Capital —- Putian

Have you ever bought a pair of expensive sneakers online, unboxed them, and immediately checked the stitching, the logo, and the alignment? If everything looks flawless and there is no cheap glue smell, you probably assume they are 100% authentic.

But there is a high chance they were made in Putian. You might not know where Putian is on a map, but if you know sneakers, you have definitely heard of the “Putian replicas.”

How Did Putian Become the Replica Capital?

Let’s look at a pair of AJ11 Concords. An authentic pair can easily cost over $400. A high-tier replica from Putian? About $110.

But Putian isn’t famous just because it is cheap. It is famous because the quality is terrifyingly identical to the real thing. Forget about the obvious, funny knockoffs you see in flea markets with misspelled logos.

But Putian high imitation shoes show respect for every customer who does not like high imitation shoes but has to buy high imitation shoes.

If you don’t take a ruler to measure the distance from the logo to the edge of the shoe in millimeters, you can’t see the difference between them and the genuine product.

What’s more, some Putian high imitation shoes are more “real” than the real brand shoes. Can you find out the fake sneakers from the authentic ones in the following picture?

In 2014, Wenzhou Quality Inspection Institute (according to the sports shoe standard GB/T15017-2005) tested the high imitation Adidas ZX700 running shoes, and found that its material is the same as the genuine shoes. And the wear resistance and folding resistance are almost the same. There is only a slight difference in the hardness of the sole.

There is a running joke in the sneaker community: If your branded shoes haven’t worn out after a year, they are probably fake Putian shoes.

How Do They Make Them So Real?

A Putian boss revealed that they would buy two pairs of genuine shoes, and one pair would be used for dismantling so as to facilitate the study of materials. The other pair is used for repeated comparison after the imitations are made, until no difference is visible to naked eye.

Such small workshops are everywhere in Putian, Fujian Province. Behind the “international” local indigenous brands like “Panix” and “Nev Buylane”, you would see rows of high imitation shoes lined up, and even the producer can’t tell the difference.

Putian embarked on the path of a fake shoes workshop, coincidentally, but also compelled by circumstances.

You may not know that 50 years ago, even before you were born, most of the sneakers in the world were originally produced in Taiwan, China. And at that time, Taiwan’s economy had risen rapidly, and labor costs had skyrocketed.

As a result, multinational shoe companies quickly transferred their “workshop” and prepared to transfer to Southeast Asia and China, where labor is cheaper. Fuzhou, Jinjiang and Putian in Fujian Province were the main selected sites.

Putian was originally a shoe-producing city and was the center of the shoe industry in Fujian Province. But none of these could compare with Putian’s later achievements. Nike, Adidas, and Puma, these international brands have entered Putian.

In 1986, the total output value of the shoes and leather industry in Putian reached 110 million yuan. Within only ten years, the total output value of Putian’s shoe industry soared to 4.29 billion yuan.

Unfortunately, history always repeats itself.

It didn’t take long before the newly emerging Putian took place in Southeast Asia. In 2001, the minimum wage in Vietnam was about $24 per month, but Putian’s minimum wage has reached $54 per month.

Putian has only enjoyed such profits for 20 years. The way Taiwan was taken over back then is now happening again to Putian.

Then what should Putian do?

Putian shoe factory has been manufacturing Nike and Adidas for so many years, and many people are full of shoe-making skills.

They only need one weapon to get back to yesterday’s flourish. As a result, some counterfeiters bribed workers in the OEM factories to take out design drawings and samples.

Nike Foundry had to come up with a trick: nail the sample to the wall.

But there is no way to stop these counterfeiters. Even before the genuine shoes were produced, Putian fake shoes were already on sale.

It must be emphasized that Fujian is not only making fake shoes in Putian, but also in Jinjiang.

ومع ذلك, later, Jinjiang is better known for its own domestic independent brands, like Anta, 361 degrees, and Hongxing Erke, all made by Jinjiang people.

Putian, on the opposite, has gone further and further on the path of producing fake shoes.

Follow the Money: Why Do They Do It?

According to international manufacturing data, an official OEM factory makes a gross profit of about 2% on a pair of sneakers. The labor cost accounts for just 0.4%.

If you buy a pair of genuine AJ13s at retail for $200, the OEM factory might only make $4, and the workers see pennies.

However, in the replica market, the math changes. A Putian factory selling a high-tier replica directly to buyers for $50 can make a net profit of $15 or more per pair (a 30%+ margin). Large underground factories can generate millions in profit every month.

It’s not that Putian hasn’t tried to tear off the “capital of piracy” label. Since 2014, the local government has launched massive anti-counterfeiting crackdowns, destroying countless factories. But the industry is deeply rooted in local clans and hidden supply chains, making it as difficult to eradicate as pulling up a century-old tree.

Today, Putian has evolved its logistics to bypass customs.

To fool overseas buyers, they stitch “Made in Vietnam” tags into the shoes, provide fake official retail receipts, and route the shipping tracking numbers to look like the package originated from an international warehouse.

That “authentic, discounted” pair of sneakers you ordered from an overseas reseller? It might have just taken a brief vacation from Putian.

Putian’s dream is to make the world wear famous brand shoes.

How to distinguish a luxury fashion shoe from a high imitation one?

Want to know how to spot the difference between an authentic luxury shoe and a high-tier replica? Check out this video breakdown: