Despite raids, faux Nikes have defenders

Originally Published July 29, 2007; Page 1A
By LEO STRUPCZEWSKI
Courier-Post Staff

Ted Roberts wears Nikes.

They're standard-issue Air Force 1's, a product so pervasive among the fashionably hip and urban chic that a song written about them hit No. 3 on the Billboard Top 100.

Except Roberts' pair are fakes, knockoffs bought well below the $75 price tag for an authentic pair. And he sees the company that makes them as a Robin Hood.

"Money is tight," said Roberts, 42, of Camden, who was arrested a week and a half ago for selling fake sneakers. "To me, they're doing the community a service."

Fueled by consumer appetite for the status that high-priced trendy sneakers brings, the industry of counterfeit sneakers is lucrative. Better counterfeiting techniques and a growing acceptance in some circles of wearing fakes only makes it more difficult to stem the tide, experts said.

At stake for companies like corporate giant Nike are not only dwindling dollars but integrity of the brand. But Nike is not sitting still. The athletic shoe and apparel industry leader has contracted with a Norristown, Pa.-based private investigation firm to aid law enforcement in shutting the businesses down.

Since June 26, Stumar Investigations has worked with law enforcement officials to raid four stores and two flea market vendors in four South Jersey towns. Nearly 3,000 pairs of Nike sneakers were confiscated during those raids. The most recent came Thursday, when Springfield police confiscated more than 700 pairs of Air Force 1's and Air Jordans from a vendor at Columbus Market in Burlington County.

"It's really above and beyond whatever the financial impact of losing a certain sale is," said Bob Applegate, a Nike spokesman. "When you buy from our brand, what you expect and deserve from our brand is superior performance."

Though often made in the same factories as an authentic pair, counterfeits are done without the official template or materials. The sneakers don't last as long and they don't feel the same, Applegate and others said.

But the status associated with having, say, a pair of recently released Retro Air Jordans, which cost between $125 and $150 a pair, has driven counterfeits into poorer communities, said law enforcement officials and members of the "sneakerhead" community, those who hold authentic pairs in high regard.

On July 17, police raided two Camden stores: The Source, in the 300 block of S. Broadway, and Blazin' Sports, in the 2400 block of Federal Street. (The owners of Blazin' Sports were also charged with selling fake sneakers in a raid last year, police said.)

Investigators confiscated more than 900 pairs of counterfeit Nikes -- all Air Force 1's and Air Jordans -- with an estimated value of more than $60,000, police said. Those sneakers, like other counterfeits confiscated by Nike's contractors, are defaced of Nike emblems and given to children in Darfur or shredded for construction of soft-top basketball courts, said Stuart Drobny, president of Stumar Investigations.

Camden Police Sgt. Fred Davis and Drobny billed the raids as a success. Officials shut down operations that were tricking people into believing fake sneakers were the real thing, they said.
But some who wear the fake sneakers -- and others who refuse to wear them -- said that where this merchandise is sold is often common knowledge in the community. And that those who buy them are mostly doing so on purpose.

Roberts said fake Air Force 1's sell for around $45 to $50 and are so similar to authentic pairs that it's understandable why people don't spend the extra money.

Officials charged Roberts with selling fake sneakers at The Source and said he is an owner of the store. Roberts denies the charge and said he neither owns nor works at the store.

Some sneakerheads say people who buy fakes are "forever stamped" in their community, but they understand the appeal.

Mike Daurio, a New York-based executive who runs conventions for collectors, said the appeal of counterfeits boils down to supply and demand.

"Sometimes, you go to an area that doesn't have as much money as another and (the residents) just want to look fresh," said Daurio, whose International Sneaker Battles have been held across the country, including Atlantic City. "To them, looking fresh is matching their sneaker to their outfit. They want an original colorway (Air Jordan) III's. . . . Well, the real ones are $700."

It's the type of pressure that keeps the counterfeit industry thriving.

Those arrested in the Camden raids said they paid $10 a pair for the counterfeit sneakers at a warehouse in New York City, Davis said. At those prices, merchants sell a pair of fakes for anywhere between $40 and $90, still well below the price of an authentic pair.

It's a crime that, without help from a company like Stumar, often goes widely unchecked.

Nike does not train local police departments -- or the markets where vendors have been busted -- how to spot counterfeit sneakers. Applegate, the Nike spokesman, would not discuss how counterfeits are spotted, citing security concerns.

Stumar investigators have specialized training and are armed with a check sheet during raids, law enforcement officials said. Drobny said his company has worked with several corporations, including computer printer maker Lexmark, to protect their reputations from counterfeits.

But even busts don't seem to slow the industry down.

Drobny said a full-court press is needed to slow the trade, because first-time offenders, in all likelihood, will not see jail time.

Penalties for the crime vary depending on how much counterfeit merchandise a person has, according to state law. Someone with more than 1,000 counterfeit items faces a second-degree crime. The maximum penalty for a second-degree crime is up to 10 years in state prison and $150,000 in fines. But additional fines may be imposed for people selling counterfeits.

In the case of Blazin' Sports and The Source, the stores raided in Camden, their doors were open last week, despite the fact that both were out of Nikes.

And so it goes.

Sitting on the curb near the corner of Warsaw and Jackson streets last week, 13-year-old Kareem Jenkins wore a pair of Air Force 1's featuring a light blue, dark blue and white color scheme with navy shorts and a clean, white T-shirt.

Kareem insists his sneakers are authentic.

Kids who wear fakes get "cracked on," he said.

With pride, he said he had 36 other pairs at home. The pair he was wearing were a commemorative edition released this spring in the Philadelphia area.

"You get more reputation," Kareem said, a smile creeping across his face as he touted the virtues of authentic sneakers. "You can be walking down the block and someone'll say, "Yo, there's Kareem' and somebody will be like "You know,the one with the ippy (cool) sneaks.' "

Reach Leo Strupczewski at (856) 317-7828 or lstrupczewski@courierpostonline.com