The Beaverton company is still on the high seas to resolve this problem, although it now appears to be starting to take severe measures. Nike and Converse have, in fact sued 589 websites and 676 social accounts that sell fake products to stop their business. “The defendants, who have no affiliation with Nike or Converse, have attempted to capitalize on the popularity of our brands by producing and marketing counterfeit and falsely labeled products such as Nike or Converse.” It reads in a note released by the company. A move that will probably reduce the number of fake goods on the market but which, with significant probability, will once again fail to put an end to this scourge.
In fact, in recent years, Nike has been the subject of numerous large-scale counterfeiting incidents. In 2019, an unsealed homeland security document revealed that U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized $ 472 million worth of fake Nike and Louis Vuitton footwear. The same year, L.A./ Long Beach Seaport authorities confiscated more than 14,000 pairs of counterfeit Air Jordans worth an estimated $ 2.2 million. In 2018, a New York-based team of counterfeiters was caught smuggling more than 300,000 Air Jordans pairs into the United States, worth an estimated $ 73 million. The sneaker giant has a well-documented history of aggressively defending its brands.
But do you know why the most desired brand of 2020 is so prone to counterfeiting? Simple, the demand from the public great is not only great, but an explanation could also come from the interest that auction houses lately have towards Nike sneakers. In July 2019, the world’s most famous auction house, Sotheby’s, sold the Nike “Moon Shoe” model for $ 437,500. In May 202, however, it recorded a price never reached before for a pair of sneakers. The Nike Air Jordans is known as “The One”, worn by Michael Jordan in Nba’s first season with the Chicago Bulls, sold for $ 560,000.
More recently, in August 2020, auction house Christie’s sold a pair of Nike Air Jordan 1s for $ 615,000. Jordan wore them on August 25, 1985 in a memorable exhibition match organized by Nike in Trieste. The king of basketball sank the ball into the basket so hard it broke the backboard. The left shoe still has a piece of glass embedded in the red sole.
Last but not least, the T.V. series “The Last Dance” on Netflix. It brought even more attention to Michael Jordan and the Bulls’ image, causing all special prices linked to them to skyrocket.
