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Vans Sneakers Real vs. Fake Guide 2025: How To Know If Vans Are Original?

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Vans Sneakers Real vs. Fake Guide 2025: How To Know If Vans Are Original?

Over the years, Vans sneakers are all over the place, getting much love and attention not only from skaters but anyone who loves sneakers. Due to its interesting characteristics , Vans is one of the brands that is frequently counterfeited. And when you pay for a pair of Vans—whether Vans Old Skool skate shoes or slip-ons—the last thing you want is to find out you've paid for a fake pair that should have cost you a fraction of the price. So how to tell if Vans are fake or real? How do you know if your Vans shoes are authentic? How to check if Vans shoes are original? What are the features of original Vans sneakers? Or how to distinguish original and fake Vans shoes? In fact, learning how to tell if Vans sneakers are fake or not isn’t that difficult,read on and this guide teaches you how to authenticate any pair of Vans sneakers.

How About Vans Sneakers?

Vans was founded in 1966 by brothers Paul and Jim Van Doren in Anaheim, California. Originally called The Van Doren Rubber Company, the original Authentic shoes were the first of the Vans styles, made that same year and remaining practically unchanged since. The name quickly got shortened into the far catchier Vans as skaters came to love the shoes for their sticky soles and durability, becoming a must-have for the California skate community by the mid-'70s.By the end of the '70s, the brand had released their Authentic, Old Skool, slip-ons and Sk8-Hi styles complete with the signature ‘jazz stripe’.

Vans shoes are very popular for their neutral style and wide appeal; thanks to which, they are easily combinable when dressing, according to the preference of the users. Its versatile designs, useful to wear on casual, semi-formal and even sports occasions , are made with excellent quality materials; which are capable of resisting many years of use.

These are shoes that allow you to breathe through their side vents, have padded collars, reinforced heels, are light and very comfortable . There are different unicolor and patterned models, their shape line has not changed much throughout their existence and, despite this, they are still in great demand. Thus, Vans shoes on sale are magnificent for daily use, due to their ability to absorb high impacts.

Where to Buy Vans Sneakers?

The Vans Sneakers are available in Vans boutiques worldwide and online. And you can also get a second-hand or New Vans Sneakers on some online websites! Sign up at Extrabux.com, you can get up to 11.50% cash back on Vans Sneakers purchase at these below sites！

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How To Spot Real Vans Sneakers?

1.The Materials of Vans Sneakers

Checking your Vans for plush padding and nice quality materials is a easy way to check if they are real or fake.

The sneaker collar in particular should be nicely padded and quite thick feeling. If your Vans don’t feel plush in the collar, they are fake. Vans are known for their comfort, so it should be immediately apparent if they aren’t up to par.
The soles should feel squishy, with nice support and the upper should be soft yet hardwearing. If any of the material is patchy, fading or coming away from the shoe that’s a sign of a fake.

2.The Weight of Vans Sneakers

Weighing is a way to distinguish original and fake Vans shoes that you can try.

Unlike running shoes in general, Vans shoes are known for being fairly heavy for a pair of shoes. They generally weigh anywhere between 0.75 - 2.87 pounds, depending on the shoe style.

Fake Vans shoes tend to be lighter and more flexible than original Vans. Not only does it reduce comfort, but the less cushioned soles of fake Vans also make the soles of the feet tingle easily.
Overall the fakes feel quite flimsy, and it’s obvious they aren’t dense enough when held to be the real thing.

3.The Trademarks of Vans Sneakers

Every Vans shoe style has a red rectangular rubber tab with a white logo print (or white rubber tab with black logo) at the heel.

(1) The three trademarks

There should be a trademark made of paper on the side of the shoe. There should be another, printed on the plastic on the back of the shoe. There should be one last trademark on the insole.

Every Vans shoe style has a red rectangular rubber tab with a white logo print (or white rubber tab with black logo) at the heel.

There should also be a nicely printed, easy-to-read trademark on the insoles.

Look for a dark, well-made logo on the insole. On many fake Vans' shoes, the logo on the insole will be faded. The real one will be well colored in, bright, and easy to read.

Except for Old Skool and Sk8 styles, Vans sneakers usually have a rectangular strip of fabric with the brand’s logo on the lateral side of the shoe.

The Sk8 style, whether mid or high, has a square Vans Off the Wall logo patch made of canvas fabric that is neatly sewn on the tip of the tongues.

(2)Check for errors in the trademark.

The logos should all be spelled correctly. Compare the font on the logos to the font on other Vans shoes that you know are real.

The color the trademark is printed in can vary, but the font should always be the same. The “V” should have a long line extending out of its right edge. The “ans" should be under the line.

4.The Quality of the Stitching

Inspecting the stitching is another clear way to identify a fake pair of Vans.

Even, well done stitching, that looks neat indicates a high quality production line, and real Vans.

The Vans upper should be smoothly cut, without bumps. Bumps indicate a cheap production line without quality checks, which is a giveaway for counterfeit products.

Any double stiches, defects or loose stiches indicate a fake. It may be difficult to tell unless you have a genuine pair to compare it to, but you can find some common stitching problems:

On the back of the shoe-fake Vans may peak at the back, while genuine Vans stay flat.
Around the edges of the fabric-the stitching on fake Vans may not be appropriately aligned or have inconsistent spacing.
Along any of the stitch lines-fake Vans may have kinked stitching.

5. The Sole Stripe

The stripe on the rubber foxing tape is a trademark styling cue for the Vans classic. Study the stripe carefully:

The authentic Vans shoe stripe is molded-in color. Vans makes the stripe with solid colored rubber that has clean and straight edges.
The fake Vans have a painted stripe. You can see the paint job here is not perfect, and you can even see a dab of paint slopped onto the toe foxing.

6.The Vans Logo and Heel Pad

The first thing you can do is to check the image of the Van writing or logo printed on the shoe sole connection. This Heel Pad serves to seal the connection that covers the sole of the shoe to make it durable. If the heel pad is missing, you can be sure the shoes are fake.
Also, examine how the logo is shaped. Vans writing is printed in all capital formats, although the size of each alphabet is different. The letter V is shaped like a root symbol in mathematics, while the letters A N S are printed below the V horizontal line.
As for the heel pad material, you can check the quality of the rubber by pressing with your thumb nail. The heel pad of the original Vans shoes is made of hard rubber with good quality, so it is not easy to cause marks when there are scratches or pressure with nails. If it causes marks, you can be sure the shoes are not original.

7. The Outsole of Vans Sneakers

(1)The outsole foxing tape

You can see where the toe tip rubber part is attached to the shoe on the authentic pair of Vans.
Meanwhile, the counterfeit Vans sole has a very different surface texture, and the toe foxing is molded directly to the sole unit. This is very suspicious! This outsole may not have been made by vulcanization.
On the real Vans shoe, you can see the tiny gap where these two parts come together. The authentic Vans toe tip is glued on, NOT molded together as one piece like the counterfeit Vans shoe.

(2)The bottom pattern on the sole

The authentic Vans shoes have vulcanized rubber waffle soles that come in rhomboid and diamond shapes.
Check that the edges are sharp and straight.The real's has clean lines around the perimeter of the sole, while fake Vans are usually messy, with the color of the sole bleeding into the white.
A flat sole, while fake pairs won't be flat at the bottom of the waffle design.

(3)The Waffle Code

Like Adidas and other well-known brand shoes, Vans also has a code that indicates the shoes are original. The Vans code is usually printed on the outsole of the shoe, precisely on the sole of the shoe.
Each code attached to the shoe must be different, depending on where the shoe was produced. For example, if the shoes are produced in China, then the waffle code is IFC, HF, DT, SHC, ZDC, and ICC, while Indonesia has a GSI waffle code.

8.The Vans Sneakers Size Tag

How to distinguish between original and fake Vans shoes is by paying detailed attention to the shoe size tag.

The characteristic of original Vans shoes is the size tag on the thick shoe tongue, shiny when exposed to light, slippery, and firmly attached.
On the tag, there is also a production location code such as Made in China or Made in Japan, which you can detect by matching the tag production code with the waffle code on the outsole.

9. The Shoelaces and Eyelets

Genuine Vans shoes will come with flat shoelaces, while fake Vans may come with round shoelaces. All authentic Vans shoelaces should be firm. Fake ones have poor quality soft and thin laces.
Except for the original Old Skool Vans, which only have raw shoelace holes, genuine Vans sneakers have neatly painted and properly aligned eyelets

10.The Inside of Vans Sneakers

Looking inside the real and fake Vans, you can see some huge problems!

The counterfeit Vans are not made by the vulcanization process. The counterfeit Vans outsole is a one-piece rubber cupsole. The factory producing the copy Vans shoe is using the cold cement assembly process.
The real Vans waffle sole is made from several assembled parts that have been bonded by vulcanization.

In this cutaway section of the Vans shoes, you see blue and grey sponge rubber inside the real Vans shoe. Inside the fake Vans, you see a green lasting board, white Strobel layer, and EVA footbed.

11.The Footbed

Inside the heels of the shoes, you can see the fake shoe is made by Strobel construction. This process is not bad; it’s just not how Vans classics are made! The real vans shoe will have the footbed glued in securely. The counterfeit Vans may have a removable EVA footbed.
If the footbed inside your Vans shoes comes out easily, I'm sorry to tell you that you have a fake. Genuine Vans come with the flatbed securely glued in.

12.The Toes

Check the angle of the toes. The shoes should bend up slightly, so that the toes face up. If the bottom on the shoes is flat, the shoes are likely fake.
The toes should be bendable. You should be able to press on the heel and the toe, so that the back and front of the shoe touch. If the shoes are stiff, they're fake.

13. The Packaging and Vans Shoe Box

Authentic Vans that you order online (from vans.com is best) or purchase in store should come in good quality packaging.The packing should include:

A Vans trademarked ‘off the wall’ label. The label should be nice feeling, shiny and be attached to the sneaker through the top eyelet. The design of the label should exactly match the Vans trademark rubber tab on the back of the sneaker with no spelling mistakes or defects.
A thick cardboard shoebox that is nicely branded. The shoebox should not have any spelling mistakes, should come with a sticker including the barcode, country of production code and the sizing, model and color of the sneaker.
High quality Vans tissue paper lining the box. The tissue paper should be nicely branded.
The shoes should be wrapped in paper within the box to protect the shoes.

14.Run the Barcode on the Shoebox

The easiest way to see whether or not a pair of Vans shoes is authentic is to make sure that the barcode on the wrapper is officially registered.

You can download applications on your smartphone such as ShopSavvy or ScanLife. Later, try to see the barcode code on Vans shoe wrapper that you will buy.
If you have scanned the barcode on the wrapper using the application you downloaded, the type of shoes you will buy will come out. If not, you can be sure that the Vans shoes are fake or KW.

15.Double Check the Vans Sneakers Prices

An easy way to check if Vans are real or fake is to make sure the price seems reasonable.

Real Vans Sneakers range between $50 to $100 as a rule.Such as Vans Old Skool shoes are priced at $70, while the Era, Slip-On, and Authentic sneakers usuallyare $55 - 60. If the dealer is selling a pair for less than the said price tags, they are most likely a fake.
Of course if they are on sale they’ll be cheaper. But if you find a pair of Vans online that are super cheap (like $15 or so), then they are likely fake.
You can buy discounted Vans slip-on sneakers, high-tops, and skate shoes at Nordstrom Rack.

16.Check The Dealer’s Legitimacy

In addition to comparing prices, you can check the dealer as a way to distinguish between original and fake Vans shoes.

When purchasing a pair of Vans it’s best to go to a reputable retailer, online or in person. Purchasing a pair from eBay or from a market stall may result in a counterfeit purchase.
If in doubt, buy directly from Vans’ official website or from established online retailers like Zappos, Nordstrom, Farfetch, DSW, and Amazon.
You can also check out the store locator to find authorized retailers near you.
Before making transactions in online stores, it’s a good idea to check ratings and reviews from previous buyers as a reference.

When buying from a non-authorized dealer, pay attention to online listings and how the seller communicates with you—you should be able to spot a shady deal. You shouldn't go through with the transaction if:

The listing is vague and doesn't contain any images.
The seller is being pushy, trying to get you to send money quickly.
The seller is requesting payment via a weird method, like gift cards or wire transfer.
The seller won't let you see the shoes in person first before you send the money.
There are photos on the listing, but they're all taken from the Vans site (i.e., the seller didn't take the pictures of the actual shoes they're selling).

How to Spot Fake Vans Sneakers Quickly?

So that concludes this guide on how to spot real vs fake Vans Sneakers. There are some things you should know:

The Vans logo is placed in three key places: side, heel and insole. Imitations usually forget to put the heel number or write it incorrectly
In the Vans logo, the letters are always capitalized. Also, the V looks like a square root sign that covers the rest. Before any alteration of this detail, remember that it is a forgery.
The original seams are watertight; that is, you should not see spaces between them. In addition to being symmetrical and uniform.
A plastic label must be visible inside the tongue showing the batch number, size, model and country where it was made.
Vans laces have a particularity, and that is that they feel a certain firmness to the touch; Contrary to what happens with most imitation models, which are usually smooth.
The tips of Vans shoes are very flexible, so they can be easily bent. The idea is that they would be easy for a skateboarder to maneuver. A fake version will be hard, inelastic and could lead to sore feet.
Vans shoe boxes include a large amount of information such as patent information, logo, recycling symbols and barcodes. Verify that they are the colors of the brand, that they do not contain spelling errors, etc.
The barcode on the box must match the one inside the shoes. To verify it, there are different mobile apps; which allow the images to be scanned and determine if there is a match. Otherwise you would be facing an imitation.

FAQs

1.How to Spot Fake Vans Online (Before You Buy)?

Many fake Vans are sold online on sites like Craigslist, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and even shady websites that sell counterfeit items.

If you're looking for a pair of Vans online, the best way to avoid ending up with a fake pair is to buy from Vans directly or an authorized retailer.

2.How to Avoid Buying Fake Vans Sneakers?

To avoid getting ripped off and ending up with a pair of fake Vans, you should:

Only buy Vans from authorized dealers and websites.
Check the returns/refund policy when purchasing Vans shoes.
Scrutinize the shoe first before buying it.
Not buy from sellers on sites like Craigslist, OfferUp, or eBay.
Not buy from street vendors or sellers that aren't official Vans dealers.
Pay with a credit card when possible, so you can dispute the charge if you end up with counterfeits.
Check the price—fake Vans are generally sold much cheaper than regular Vans.

3.How Much Do Genuine Vans Cost?

To give you an idea of how much your Vans should cost (so you can better spot a scam), here are the average prices of shoes at full retail prices: