Chinese "reps"

Wyoming's 2016 National finalist, Bryce Meredith, who made a historic run to the NCAA fnals as a 14 seed at 141lbs, while wearing a pair of Yellow Chinese Replica Olympic Inflicts.

A few years ago, wrestling shoe collectors were in panic over replicas of rare shoes being made overseas, and being sold for next to nothing here in America.  Nike's Olympic Inflict, one of the rarest shoes on the market, was being reproduced to be almost identical in look to the legitimate pair, and people had a hard time telling the difference between these replicas and the real things.  Olympic Inflicts at the time were the shoe to have on the market.  Owners of these legendary shoes were fearful, and actually angered, and demanded that people stopped buying these fake Inflicts so their pairs, which could real in over $1000 on a good day, would hold their value.

These "Chinese reps" as they are known in the shoe world, could be purchased on Chinese retail sites such as alibaba.com and aliexpress.com for around $50, and about a month wait for the shipping.  Great deal, right? WRONG.  These shoes had collectors worried, until they were put to the test.  With the exception of the Olympic Inflicts, all of the other replicas made by these retailers such as Nike Footsweeps, Adidas Ringers, and Nike Kolat 2000s, have significant changes in looks from their imitated shoe.  None of the replicated shoes could stand the test of time.  The soles are extremely thin from the time you pull them out of the box, and the bodies of the shoe are made so cheaply that I have seen pairs of these with the stitching coming apart after just a few wears.

Now, a few years since the release of these replica shoes, very rarely do you see any of them worn for matches, especially at high-levels.  I see them pop up on my eBay searches, generally with zero bids, because people have finally realized that although they may look decent, they were paying for a pair of shoes that would almost for certain not last them half of their season.

Prices on the originals have stayed rather unchanged.  Chaos erupted when reps were being released into the market, but now, a few years later, collectors have trained eyes and are able to spot the fakes almost instantaneously.  The differences are staggering between all of the real and fake shoes.  Most differ in looks and material used, but even those that don't such as the Inflicts, differ immensely in quality.  The lesson to be learned is that in any market, if money is being made, imitators are going to try to make a quick buck, but at the end of the day, as I've mentioned in previous posts, original is always worth more.