Whether it’s your first or tenth pair of Nike Air Jordan 1’s, the price and quality of these shoes are important markers that you are getting the true value and real version of these shoes! With all the online sneaker retailers out there these days, sometimes a good deal can be too good of a deal, especially when it comes to these sneakers. Make sure you aren’t getting scammed and follow these tips on how to spot fake Air Jordan 1’s to make sure you’re getting the real thing!

The Box

Before you even open your new Air Jordan 1’s, the box can be a huge giveaway for whether you’re getting the real thing or not. Fake retailers won’t care if the box arrives in good shape so if there are any dents or marks on the box that it arrives in, you want to be wary of the shoes. Buying straight from Nike you’ll get your AJ1s to be in their shoebox that is in another Nike-branded box, whereas fake ones usually don’t have that second outer Nike box. Upon closer inspection, fake Nike boxes typically have a little bit bigger font on the details tag than the real ones.

Image from Soleinsider

Laces

One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between fake and real air Jordans are the lace bag the lace bag that comes with real Jordans should be compact and tie in nicely woven where is the lace bag on a fake pair usually is kind of sloppily tied and there’s more air space between the laces in the bag.

Image from aremykickslegit

Stitching

Stitching is a really crucial part to knowing if your Air Jordan 1 pair is real or fake. You can look and see if the stitching is clean and symmetrical on both shoes, not just one shoe. Real stitching should glow under a blacklight, and when you look at the stitching there should be a clean and consistent gap between each stitch.  You want to know your colorways and which stitching color should be there and shouldn’t be there to indicate which is real or fake.

Image from Klekt

Air Jordan Label

While both look pretty similar, the real Jordan 1 logo is embossed a little bit deeper into the leather and not flat on the leather, like a fake. The real Nike Air Jordan does not have any stitching guides to help the stitchers locate the panels during assembly but when you look at a fake Nike, it is loaded with the little assembly guides. You’ll also notice that if you look at the right side of the Wings and how close they come to the white leather panel in real pair and compare it to the fake pair, you’ll see the fake pair has a much higher gap between the white leather panel than the real ones. Also, always make sure there is ™ logo, that indicates a real one!

Image from Solecollector

Nike Logo

On the tongue of a real Nike Air Jordan, there should be two ™ logos. If they are missing any or only have one trademark logo that indicates a fake. Another thing to zoom in on is the stitching of the Nike air itself. On the real Nike, the ‘K’ and the ‘E’ in NIKE are touching the swoosh, but on a fake the letters don’t all touch the swoosh, in addition to the letter spacing being too narrow for a real Nike tongue.

Image from sneakerfactory.net

Outsole Logo

If you look closely at the Nike logo on the outsole, you might find the letters are too narrow indicating a fake. Another obvious mistake is that the “K” of the fake Nike logo is not touching the tail of the Swoosh. Also the logo on a real one should be perfectly centered, not too high or low, and it should not be too big either so making sure the size and placement is perfect indicates a real one!

Image from sneakerfactory.net

Conclusion

While it can be simple and easy to gloss over the small differences between real and fake Nike Air Jordan 1s, it’s important to know that what you’re buying is the real thing. You can be sure that you’re getting the real thing by buying from an authorized retailer or Nike themselves. And remember if you see a pair that you like from an individual seller and the price seems too good to be true, it probably is.