How To Spot FAKE Nike Air Force 1 in 2023 (All Colorways)

Rear View

Let's begin by first checking the rear of the Nike Air Force 1. Flip the sneaker over and take a glance. You should see the Nike Air Logo and "NIKE AIR" text. We'll focus on [1] Nike Logo [2] Stitching

We'll take a look at multiple examples...

Nike Air Force 1 White (Ex: 1)

Swoosh Logo

You can see how the Nike swoosh on the legit sneaker is much thicker and the tip of the swoosh is pointed and straight. On the other hand, if you see the tip of the swoosh on the replica Nike Air Force 1 White, you can easily see the crooked tip. None of the stitching has any depth to the fake pair.

In addition to that, you can see how the swoosh logo on the retail pair is much thicker, unlike the fake. The swoosh logo on the fake pair is extremely thin.

"A I R" Text

Next we can move onto looking at the "A I R" text. Similar to the swoosh and "NIKE" text, the replica lacks depth and elevation. The replica is also crooked and not straight. To dive deeper, you can see the height of the letter "A" on the retail, and you can see how it is much longer than the fake.

On top of that, the legs of the "R" are uneven in the replica Nike Air Force 1 White.

Nike Air Force 1 Supreme Wheat (Ex: 2)

Denoted by the red box. Take a look at the difference in the thickness of the shoe collar. The replica is way too thin, and the authentic pair has much more padding and height to it.

Denoted by the blue oval. Notice the stitching around the perimeters of this area. The stitching pattern is completely different, and the threads on the authentic pair is much thicker and pops out more than the fake.

Denoted by the green outline. Notice how on the real Air Force 1, the midsole and the shoe material is the exact same color. However on the replica, the midsole and shoe material color is totally different. In the highlighted outline, the color difference is also very obvious.

Denoted by the yellow outline. The replica shows a visible line separating the star design on the sole from the midsole. However, the retail pair does not have that distinction.

Swoosh Logo

Next, turn your Nike Air Force 1 on the side and take a look at the side profile. The focus is on specifically the swoosh logo. Once again, we'll see multiple examples...

Nike Air Force 1 White (Ex: 1)

Take a look at the red curves. They are identical red curves shown on the authentic and fake Nike Air Force 1 Whites.

The replica and counterfeit manufacturers usually do not get the swoosh correctly. It may be difficult to see, but take a look at the swoosh thickness and curvature. On the authentic pair, the curve feels natural with a great thickness to it. On the other hand, take a look at the fake Nike Air Force 1 White. You can see how the curvature feels abrupt and forced. Because the curve begins much later in the swoosh, you can see how it creates a thinner swoosh.

You can also take a look at the empty space and gap created by the replica swoosh compared to the retail sneaker.

Nike Air Force 1 Supreme Wheat (Ex: 2)

Denoted by the red circles. Notice the placement that the swoosh is positioned in the fake versus the real. The upper circle, we can see that the tip of the swoosh on the original is much closer to the upper panel compared to the replica. On the lower circle, we can see the lower swoosh further from the lower panel on the authentic pair compared to the fake.

Denoted by the yellow arrows. Notice that the retail Air Force 1 has a bigger punched hole than the fake.

Toe Box

Now let's move on and take a look at the tox box of the Nike Air Force 1 White. We'll be paying close attention to 2 main flaws: the perforation holes, and the toe box stitching.

Nike Air Force 1 White (Ex: 1)

Perforation Holes

Take a look at the authentic Air Force 1s. You can easily spot out the difference in the sizing of the perforation holes. The retail sneaker is much smaller than the replica shoe. The replica pair holes are punched too wide.

Also notice the spacing between each perforation hole. The legit pair has a consistent spacing between each hole and it follows a noticeable pattern. However, the replicas seem to have an inconsistent and randomized distance between each hole.

In addition to that, take a look at the lowest perforation hole on the authentic versus the fake Nike Air Force 1 White. You can see the obvious distance difference between the 2 comparisons. The retail shoe is not nearly as close to the stitching and tip of the sneaker compared to the fakes.

Stitching

Notice the stitching density on the legit pair. It is much more densely sewn into the sneaker and has a bit of elevation to it. The counterfeit is less dense, which implies the lower quality stitching process.

Nike Air Force 1 Supreme Wheat (Ex: 2)

Denoted by the yellow oval. We'll focus on the swoosh and the stitching perimeter around the swoosh. Notice that the swoosh is crooked on the replica Air Force 1, which is denoted by the green arrow. Also look at the stitching perimeter around the swoosh. The original should be compact and leave little room for the swoosh to fit. However you can see how much bigger the replica has it.

Denoted by the red arrow. Notice how the replica perforated hole is way too close to the edge of the toe box. The authentic Air Force 1 should leave enough room between the punched hole and the edge.

Metal Piece

Next, let's take a look at the metal piece at the front of the Air Force 1s. Some Air Force 1s will not have this metal piece.

Reflection

On the authentic pair you can see the metal material being darker and less reflective to light as the replica. The legit pair has silver color tone to it, whereas the fake has a bronze coloring.

NOTE: The image above have the same lighting.

Lighting will change the reflectiveness of your pair, so keep that in mind.

Scratch/Dents

Notice the smooth and polished texture to the legit pair. This is not the same with the replica metal. You can clearly see scratches and dents in the metal itself. You can also see how the text "AF1" has crooked edges on the replicas, whereas the retail is imprinted with no sign of damage.

Curvature

Make sure your metal piece has a slight curve to the metal, and not completely straight. If your metal piece is completely straight, then it is most likely a replica.

Size Tag/Inside Label

Next let's take a look at the interior of the Air Force 1, where the size tag will be present.

Recognize the 2 main flaws in font/text of the size tags between the authentic and fake sneaker: font thickness and letter/word spacing. It is pretty clear from the comparison that the authentic tag has a thicker font and the spacing between letters are consistent throughout. However the replica tag has a very thin font and the spacing between the letters are quite inconsistent. Here are a couple examples of this...

"HECHO" Text

Take a look at spacing between the "CH". In the legit pair, the spacing is consistent with the rest of the letters. However on the fake, you can see a suspicious amount of spacing relative to the other letters.

Country Of Fabrication

In the authentic pair, it states "INDONESIA". The entire word is clear and not cut off. The font thickness and spacing is also consistent. On the other hand, the fake pair says "VIETNAM", where the letter "M" is cutoff and not visible. On top of that the spacing between the "N" and "A" are too close together relative to other letters.

"patentsvirtualmarking" Text

On the replica size tag, you can see how the "en" spacing is too narrow, where the letters almost overlap. The other letters do not share this same spacing. The authentic one is consistently thick and spacious.

Style Number Search

Search the style number on google. The style number for the authentic pair is "DH2920-111", and "315122-111" for the fake pair. If the results of the search do not match the colorway and model of the Nike Air Force 1 White, then it is surely a replica. In our case, the replica pair passes this test as well, but in the case it doesn't you can be sure it's a replica.

QR Code Scan

Scan the QR code present on the size tag. After you scan the code, it should direct you to Nike's official page. Counterfeits sometime have this correct, however it it directs you to another page or no page, then you can be sure it's fake.

Box Label

Let's move forward to the box label of the sneaker.

NOTE: The serial number on the inner size tag label must be identical to the serial number on the box label of the Nike Air Force 1. In the event this element of safety is not respected, your sneaker is undoubtedly fake.

Nike Air Force 1 White (Ex: 1)

First thing to notice right off the bat is the degree of fading that the replica box label has gone through. Look at the font thickness and the opacity of the text as well.

Let's focus on 4 flaws found on the authentic and replica box labels for the Air Force 1 Whites.

"WHITE/WHITE BLANC/BLANC"

Denoted by the blue box, we can see the opacity of the authentic is much higher than the fake. We can also take into consideration the font thickness of the text. The legit box is much thicker, while the fake is thinner. The letters are also inconsitently printed on the replica.

Barcode

Denoted by the red box, we can see the difference in font thickness. On the fake Air Force 1 White box label, it is much darker and thicker than the retail box.

"MADE IN VIETNAM"

Denoted by the green box, you can see an issue similar to the text found in "WHITE/WHITE BLANC/BLANC". The text is faded and the text is thin and weak on the replica compared to the authentic label.

Coloring

Lastly, denoted by the yellow circle, we can notice the color of the retail box label is a darker gray, whereas the fake label is much lighter and lower in opacity.

Midsole

Now lets move onto the midsole of the Nike Air Force 1, where we will see the "A I R" text engraving near the heel area.

Let's take a look at the "A I R" engravement along with the horizontal line. We will highlight 2 main and noticeable flaws.

Line Slope

Denoted by the red lines. Take a look at the slope and angle in which the horizontal line engraving produces. On the authentic pair, we can see a slight angle of the tip of the line. However, the replica produces a 90 degree angle with no angled slope at all.

Stitching

Denoted by the blue box. Next, have a look at the stitching on the midsole. You can very quickly notice how neat and consistent and deeply sewn the threads are in the retail Air Force 1s. On the other hand, the replica stitching is sloppy is sewn in very surface level. It is also visibly more sloppy.

Soles

Moving forward, let's take a good look at the outer soles of the Nike Air Force 1. We will take notice of 2 main features.

You can see the number "37" denoted by the red box. The original retail do not have any numerical engravings on it.

Denoted by the red circle. Notice how much thicker the stars are on the replica than on the authentic pair. It leaves less room for the overall design on

Denoted by the blue oval, take a look at the authentic texture compared to the replica. You can easily see how fibrous and detailed the sole is. However on the the fake, the fibers are thicker and less dense.

Lastly, have a look at the edge ridges denoted by the yellow box. The same issue holds true because the authentic pairs are more fibrous than the fake.

Tongue

Finally,

Nike Air Force 1 White (Ex: 1)

Spacing

Here you can see the obvious difference between the spacing of the text and the edge of the label. In the authentic pair, you can see how the logo and text is centered on the label, which leaves a bit of space on the top of the tongue. However, on the fake Air Force 1s, you can see how it leaves no spacing on the top.

Now look at the bottom of the label, where the authentic one leaves no space for the logo and text. Whereas the fake leaves an empty space.

Stitching

Another indicator is to look at the stitching around the letters and NIKE logo. On the retail shoe, the stitching outline is not visible. In addition to that, it also has elevation to the details. However on the replica, you can see the outline of the stitching for the text and logo with very little elevation.

Nike Air Force 1 Supreme Black (Ex: 2)

First notice how the Nike Logo embroidery is much weaker and less prominent on the replica than on the original. Denoted by the green box. Notice how thin the text "AIR FORCE 1" is compared to the retail. The number "1" is also thicker and looks more like "l" instead of "1".

Denoted by the red circle. Also take a look at the material texture on the tongue padding. The authentic shoe is textured with a mesh-like material. However, the fake is completely smooth.

Nike Air Force 1 CLOT Blue (Ex: 3)

First thing to notice is the lack of details within the overall embroidery design of the tongue label itself. The retail one is intricately woven while the fake is quite smooth and plain.

Also, denoted by the green rectangles; notice the difference between the threads for the stitching is.