REKIX only sells originals. Never a first copy, never a replica. Here is what we check before a pair is listed, and what you can check yourself on any pair you are offered elsewhere.
Leather creases, plastic folds
Real leather creases into soft, irregular lines and keeps its grain. Cheap synthetic folds into hard, straight, shiny ridges and stays that way. Press the toe box with your thumb: if it looks like a crumpled bag rather than a worn shoe, walk away.
The stitching is where the money goes
Look along the swoosh and the panel seams. On a genuine pair the stitch length is even the whole way round, the line does not wander, and there are no loose ends. Replicas usually get the shape roughly right and the stitching wrong.
Weight and smell
An Air Force 1 is a heavy shoe. A replica is almost always noticeably lighter, because the tooling is thinner and there is no real Air unit in the heel. A strong chemical smell out of the box is the other giveaway.
The small type
Check the size label inside the tongue. The printing should be crisp and evenly spaced, and the US, UK, EU and CM sizes should agree with each other. Blurred type or a mismatch between them is a bad sign.
What this means when you buy from us
Every pair is inspected by hand before it is photographed, and photographed as itself. If we are not certain a pair is genuine, it does not get listed. That is the whole basis of the shop.
The same walkthrough for adidas’ most copied shoe: checking a Stan Smith. Buying from someone else? Buying sneakers online in Pakistan lists the six things to check before you pay.
For the shoe itself — fit, colourways and how to keep a pair — read the Air Force 1, explained.
Read how we grade what we do list on the about page, or browse everything in stock.