- If I were to go to a meetup and someone handed me this
shoe, there's no way my mind would go, "This is fake."
(upbeat music)
- I'm Jerome, I'm a sneaker authenticator at GOAT, and GOAT
is the largest marketplace for sneakers.
Nike is the most counterfeited brand in the world.
In 2015, GOAT was established to help solve the problem.
I've been collecting sneakers since 2002. I've been a
sneaker authenticator for two years.
Shortly, we're gonna have some of our friends come by
and try to guess between some of our real and fake shoes
and see how good they do.
Now, these are the Jordan 1 off-whites designed
by Virgil Abloh.
- This is impossible, okay--
- I tell people usually, what are you looking at--
- I'm looking for the stitching right now.
The stitching sometimes is sloppy on fake Jordans.
Well, that didn't work because it's pretty clean.
Okay, let's feel the quality of the leather.
Oh I don't know what the quality of the leather is on the
off-white because is it tumbled?
- It's straight, it's smooth straight leather.
- I'm gonna go with this is fake.
- Oh man, is that your final answer?
- Well, you do know the answer, right?
- Is that your final answer? You're putting everything on it
- Uh, it's an educated guess based on just the craftsmanship
of the shoe.
- You're gonna be rocking some fake shoes
because you got it wrong.
(laughs)
- God damn it, yeah okay.
- We have the Jordan 11 'Bred' or Playoff 11. These were
made famous when Jordan came back and won his fourth
championship with the Chicago Bulls.
- So, immediately I am flummoxed by this because these look
identical. I have a guess, I studied for a very long time.
This is the real one. I'll say why, even though I'm probably
about to look real stupid. On the stitching on the tongue
here, this seems like kind of a looser stitch compared to
that. This just seems a little tighter, this is a little
more frayed and loose, this looks a little bit more
like, legit. So I think this is probably real.
- Okay, which one smells off to you?
(upbeat music plays)
- This one smells off. This one smells like a new shoe, this
one doesn't have a smell.
- We'll be putting you in training.
- Oh my God.
(wrong answer buzzer)
- [Jerome] These are the Jordan 1 'Banned', they
came out in 2016. These were made famous because
Jordan wore these, this colorway that was banned and the
NBA actually covered the fine every time he wore them.
- Let's just go with clear look and color, seems even
on both. There's a little fray here, a little bit.
Are these worn, brand new, never worn?
The stitching on here is a little bit more worn, for sure.
This is clean, clean lines we got going on here. These
lines are a little bit more frayed, as you can see.
They're a little more fluffy, if you will. It's not
on par with the Jordan brand normally.
- That gave me nothing, I don't know.
These smell minty fresh, are these worn? I could be wrong.
I probably am wrong. I'm gonna go with these are real.
- Yeah, you're right.
(correct answer bell)
- At least I went one for two, 50%, that's good.
That's like Ben Wallace-style free throws.
That's fine, he played in the NBA.
- [Lauren] These are real, these are fake.
(wrong answer buzzer)
See? It so threw me off, I was like, this, okay--
- [Jerome] These are the Jordan 11 2016 Space Jams.
People call it Space Jam but he actually wore these before
the movie was even made.
- Okay, let's see what we've got here. The inside tag
of this one looks pretty standard. The inside tag of
this one shockingly looks pretty standard.
- I was looking at this little tag here on the tongue,
just because I think as much as you can perfectly copy
something, there's something about the Jordan symbol.
They look really different, and this one just seems a little
bit like it's trying to copy. This is the real shoe.
This is the fake shoe. Am I right or wrong about that?
(correct answer bell)
- I redeemed a little bit myself.
- This one is the real one, because it has the
cleaner look on that little carbon fiber pattern.
Now tell me why I'm wrong.
- You're actually right.
(correct answer bell)
- I'm pretty much an expert at this.
(upbeat music)