I have sucky news: we all have to start paying much closer attention when shopping for tokidoki bags online now. The realistic fakes are finally here. 
There is good news though, which is that if you examine the new batch of realistic fakes closely, you can still tell them apart from real bags. This post will show you how to do just that (I will also be adding this info into the Guide to tokidoki Fakes).
First, I am going to start out by calling out a realistic fake Spiaggia Trenino that is up on eBay right now. Fortunately for us, the buyer who bought this bag the first time it was listed and already returned it (with explanation to the seller of why it was fake, I might add) was kind enough to send in a ton of photos so that we can all learn from her experience. Thanks, Jo! Please note that I also double-checked all of Jo’s information against the real Foresta Trenino in my personal collection to verify its accuracy.
For starters, here are photos that Jo took of the fake Spiaggia Trenino when she received it:
Kind of scary how realistic it looks at first glance, right? Someone even went to the trouble to put a real ball chain and real tokidoki tags on it. Now, onto why it is fake.
Exhibit A: The fake Spiaggia Trenino does not have “riri M6″ stamped under the zipper head. The photos below show a side-by-side comparison of the underside of Jo’s real Pirata Trenino zipper heads (left) vs. the fake Spiaggia Trenino zipper heads (right).
Exhibit B: The fake Spiaggia Trenino is missing the Made in China tag in the large front zipper pocket, and has a solid black carabiner stretch cord instead of a black & white carabiner stretch cord. The photos below show a side-by-side comparison of the underside of Jo’s real Pirata Trenino’s “Made in China” tag and black & white carabiner stretch cord inside the large front zipper pocket (left) vs. the fake Spiaggia Trenino’s missing tag and solid black carabiner stretch cord (right).
Exhibit C: The fake Spiaggia Trenino has incorrect carabiner hardware in all 3 places on the bag – attached to the stretch cord, and attached to the long strap on both sides. The photos below show a side-by-side comparison of the underside of Jo’s real Pirata Trenino carabiner (left) vs. the fake Spiaggia Trenino zipper carabiner (right). Ignore the color differences (Pirata has gold hardware, Spiaggia has silver) and notice that the fake carabiner only has LeSportsac etched into one side (instead of both sides, like the real bag).
Exhibit D: And finally, the most compelling reason – the print is just not right on the fake Spiaggia Trenino. So that you can all see this better, I created swatches of the same section of the Spiaggia print from a real Spiaggia bag versus the fake Spiaggia Trenino.
Here is the real Spiaggia swatch:
And here is the fake Spiaggia swatch:
Keep looking at the real swatch vs. the fake swatch – you will notice that the colors in the fake swatch are off, AND that the way the characters in the fake swatch are drawn is not quite right (for instance, look back & forth at Bastardino – see the difference?), AND that the spatial relations between the characters in the fake swatch are not the same as in the real swatch (for instance, look how much higher the plane in the upper left is compared to the momo sun in the fake swatch, and how much lower shark boy is compared to where the inner tube girl’s feet are).
*huff* *puff*
Did anyone notice this at the bottom of the fake bag ebay listing?:
“Due to it’s unique print, no bags are exactly the same. This bag is a relisting because the person who previously purchased it thought it was a knock off. I took it to the LeSportSac store at the Beverly Center, and they confirmed that it was actually an authentic bag. ”
Either the seller is lying or LeSportsac is hiring incompetent salespeople
However, the seller did eventually acknowledge it as a fake in the Q&A:
“The reverse side of the zipper pulley is plain, it does not say “riri” on it, which is why I posted on the listing that this item is probably a very good knock off rather than an authentic Tokidoki bag.”
… wow. that would be horrible if someone put out the money (i’ve seen $350+) for a Playground BV and it was fake. scary.
on another note: again, thank you for the code at The Giant Peach! i bought 6 items hahaha. a treat to myself for the winter and post-holiday blues
As the seller of this fake bag, I have to say that I was having trouble proving it was fake to Paypal to get my money back from the original seller. They kept telling me it was real and made me feel bad about asking for a refund. The only way I found to get my money back was to sell it after getting the employees at LeSportSac to say that it was authentic. They saw that it didn’t have an inside made in China tag and they even saw it was a fake qee and chain. There really isn’t anyone who can help me authenticate this bag outside the internet and I don’t think Paypal will accept a website saying it’s fake.
dangster – Despite the fact that the seller finally admits the bag might be fake at the end of the auction, the top description that people are more likely to read still claims that it is “100% authentic” (also, I am sure that this bag won’t be the only one of its kind to hit eBay). And yeah, if that is true about the LeSportsac authentication, they really need to get on the ball!
Krisha – You’re welcome! I have ordered 6 spring 2008 items so far too (trying reeeeally hard not to increase that number some more).
Liane – So you admit that you already knew the bag was fake when you first listed it, but yet you still listed it as being “100% authentic” even though you knew that wasn’t true.
No, I wasn’t sure it was fake. The buyer did not contact me with her reasons as to why it was fake until after I already re-listed the bag. I contacted her many time before asking her to explain why it was a knock off. I didn’t know it wasn’t 100% authentic or not, but that was just my own laziness for not editing the listing.
[...] UPDATE on Jan. 23, 2008: Fakes are getting more realistic! Please be sure to read this new tutorial on how to spot a convincing fake tokidoki bag. [...]
You are amazing!! Thank you for being so thorough! This will help me so much and many others I’m sure =)
Liane – In that case, you should have listed the bag as “50% chance of being authentic” rather than “100% authentic.”
abby – You’re welcome! Big thanks also to Jo for putting so much work into the photos and sending the alert to all of us!
Liane- In that case once you found out you should have pulled the listing or corrected the site, thats not right! But thansk for being honest now.
In regards to the auction, I plan on letting it end as usual but I will inform the winning bidder of the fact that it’s a knock off. Then, I will give them the option of not having to purchase the bag. I already informed the 2 highest bidders of the information supporting it being a knock off and gave them the option of me canceling their bids.
Hello, quick question. Does this only apply to those who bought LeSportsac Tokidoki bags from eBay or? I bought all of my bags from mainly Macys or Nordstroms on sale and haven’t had a chance to check them out yet. I’m at work right now w/my Spiaggia Bambino & I checked the caribiner & zippers and everything is legit, but there is no “Made in China” tag visible. Is that only found in the bigger bags or? Just wondering…
Never mind…I found it in the other side of the bag…whew!!!
Thanks so much for this!
I was hoping it wouldn’t happen, but had too I guess!
Wow. They ARE getting better. Thank you for keeping us updated and helping to point out which is which.
Actually, Liane, if your auction is in progress right now, you may want to cancel it altogether and relist the bag with an accurate description. It will save you trouble in the long run if you’re an honest seller. Also call corporate LeSportsac and tell them about your suspicions regarding the bag’s (lack of) authenticity. I’m sure they could provide you with proof to get your $$$ back from paypal, and also may appreciate the info so they could slap whoever sold the bag to you with a “cease and desist” order. A retail sales rep my not know anything about authenticating the bag, but someone at corporate may be able to help.
wow…that’s so scary O_O makes me afraid to buy ANY tokidoki bags anywhere…especially with the influx of scammers recently…
admin (steph) – oh actually i only ordered 2 things from the valentine’s day collection LOL sorry! i got the grey semi-striped t-shirt and the black short sleeve hoodie with adios and ciao ciao on the back. the other 4 items were last season stuff that my wallet wouldn’t let me get. but now they are on sale and i got 20% off that!
!!!
Glad my mistake will help others to spot fake tokidokis, especially now that they’re so realistic.
Liane – I completely agree with alesia60614 & delsey, you should have ended the auction and relist it with the correct info. That would have been the fair thing to do…now you’ve sold the KNOCK-OFF at a much higher price than you probably would have received if ALL the bidders knew from the BEGINNING that it is a FAKE. Also, after re-reading some of our correspondence, it seems you did know or at least had suspicions that it was a fake cause you said “I noticed that the chain and qee were not authentic” and (I assume) you switched them out before sending me the bag. This makes me question your intentions cause you’ve listed this bag TWICE and both times claiming it to be authentic when you had doubts from the very beginning!
WOWWWWWW this is crazyy
Thanks for the post !
I didn’t sell the bag for the price it ended at. I informed the winning bidder of the reasons as to why it is a knock off and we agreed to not complete the transaction. I informed the highest bidder several days ago about it not being authentic. I don’t think I will be re-listing the bag since I don’t think anyone is that interested in owning a knock off, no matter how close it is to an authentic bag.
Oh, I almost bid on this because I would love a Spiaggia piece, but the news about the Hello Kitty items coming out in March in Japan which is when I am going made me stop.
But this is a good post because the parts about the zipper and more helped me verify that the Tutti bag I recently purchased on Ebay is authentic! Thank you.
Scarrrryyy!!! Thanks to Steph and the reader for pointing out the new realistic fakes. I have been reporting obvious fakes to ebay whenever I have the time. I have pretty much made it my policy to purchase from her real tokidoki sellers list. A couple of them are trusted sellers and some even have a little higher price but I would rather pay that than get a fake bag!
Yeah, I think the common denominator that all real Toki bags have is the riri zipper. I’m sure LSS has a contract with that manufacturer or something.
I just discovered something: the “riri” on the zipper head may no longer be a sign of authenticity on Tokidoki Lesportsac bags.
I did a quick google search on “riri” and sure enough, the Riri zipper company has a website. And then I saw this:
http://www.ririzippers.com/zippers.htm
In the 2nd picture, there are 2 rainbow colored zippers! And it seems their zippers are available at stores and websites all over the US.
A lot of collectors by now realize that having the “riri” on the zipper is important. An unscrupulous counterfeiter may take advantage of this and start buying and using Riri zippers to make their goods appear “authentic”.
dangster- riri zippers are used in other brand bags, too. i doubt anyone making counterfeit bags is going to go that far out of their way, though.
I agree that the fakers are not likely to go so far as using authentic riri zippers – I’m 99.9% sure they will all stick with their cheap imitations.
About the zip with a ‘riri’ thing,I don’t really think it is a sign that tells us the bag is fake.I bought a Denaro wallet from a LeSportsac shop and my zip has ‘riri” words on it.
rainie, I think you got it backwards
Colored zippers that DON’T have “riri” are definitely fake.
I saw fake todidoki bag at the mall on Sunday. The bag is $17.99. It has “ProSports” on it. Pretty yucky.
What store carried the fake? Outing them will do a public service.
Hey Steph, I also noticed something. WHile looking at a comparison of some of the newer realistic fakes (like http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250211025 539) I noticed that the hardware of the Nana star studs on many fake bags (I dunno if all) are turned facing the zipper, while real bags have the nana’s “feet” facing out. I’m not really sure whether that’s for all bags, but on that Paradiso Gioco and a couple other bags that the other person had a listing for have the Nana stars facing feet in toward the zipper, and they should generally be faced in the same direction.
Another thing is that recently, my friend showed me a fake that her sister got in China with the happy flowers on the zippers: the zipper tab was too “thin” like, the depth of it was the thinness of a penny or a quarter? I just measured and the zipper tab should be exactly 1/8″ deep
*correction
While i looked at other bag designs, i realized that the leather parts for the extended zippers (like giocos, bocces,etc) have that. Otherwise Nana star studs are generally facing toward the ground.
stinabitten:
you are right! This is definitely a fake! cuz the ball chain and the qee chain are also different from the authentic ones! This seller has many other “authentic” bags for auction, and ppl r actually bidding on them! I’m wondering if someone should report him/her…
This seller seems to have realistic fakes too!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250211316 271
Everything looks fine except for the skinny ball chain! She has another gioco which has a very very realistic Adios qee (never seen fake adios qees before) with a skinny ball chain but wron interior color (hot pink?!).
Let us know what you think!
Delia – That seller earned a spot on the Fake tokidoki Sellers List a couple days ago. The bag in the link that you posted has many things wrong with it – the interior color is pink, but the correct Spiaggia interior color is yellow. The print is also wrong for the exact same reasons listed in Exhibit D of this post, the keyring on the qee is wrong (see my Guide to Fakes for more info), and of course, the skinny chain.
hey it could be a LeSportsac sample. something they use in their showrooms before the bags go into actual production ….
teree – Not a chance. The bag is most definitely fake!
Wow.. they now have fake Vacanze print bags. Beware… http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220203351 308 This bag comes complete with qee but the black “tokidoki for lesportsac” has a funny logo with it instead of the usual heart and cross bones. The ball chain also looks kinda skinny.
In a seperate auction, http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220203352 912, this looks really scary real.. The ball chain, qee and ‘tokidoki for lesportsac’ words are correct. Maybe only the black ‘tokidoki for lesportsac’ words are wrong in these range of fakes. Nonetheless, buyers beware.. It looks so real!
Good eye, Delia – that second auction is just not right! That does appear to be a real bag in the photo, but I am sure that the seller will pull a bait and switch and send a fake bag in its place.
Yeah, I’m shocked. Even for this http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250217678 807 it looks so real, but the stretch cord is wrong and if you look closely at the ‘tokidoki for lesportsac’ words, it doesn’t have the heart and cross bones, just some random ugly skull thing. Can’t believe it!
picked up a bag from “Winners” turns out it was fake. zipper pull was fake. zipper colors were off. no made in china tag inside. beware
hi everyone!
Something about this bag seems off. Maybe its the color due to the camera? I can’t quite tell. It looks like it comes with a new Adios keychain too…I know Hawaii was doing a rerelease of Paradiso so maybe this is from Hawaii?
Either way…the color and size of the characters look a little funny to me. What do you think?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110234439 632
kristi – That seller is on my List of eBay Users Who Sell Real tokidoki Bags & Clothes.
I wish I’d seen this particular article sooner. I found a nice bag on ebay recently that I could have sworn was real at first glance. Unfortunately my excitement got the better of me & I bid before I checked out all of the seller’s items. My very “real” bag looked to be a very real fake or a real bag that would probably be switched out for a fake version. Luckily for me I caught on before the auction was over & reported the seller & the items to ebay. I’m swearing off ebay purchases & only buying the bags from legit sellers, such as Macy’s or the offical websites.
NekoNeko – I am glad you figured out that the bag was fake in time! You can still shop on eBay with confidence if you use my Real tokidoki Sellers list. The tokidoki for LeSportsac collaboration ended in October 2007, so buying the older prints at stores like Macy’s is no longer an option right now.
Hey, I just purchased this bag on eBay (yeah I hadn’t read about the real-looking fake ones yet.. ;_; ) and i am wondering wether or not it’s real. I haven’t seen it yet myself, but my mom just received it and checked it for me. The carabiner cord is black and white, the zippers all have riri on it, the tags are on, the quee is in its plastic bag, the interior (as on photos) is grey… Now, the listing says it’s a spring print?? Did they just make a mistake or is this a fake? My mom hasn’t found the Made in Chine tag anywhere.. but maybe she didn’t look well enough (damn it wish I could look at it myself)… I can only see it in two weeks, any way to know if it’s fake or real in spite of that? Is is possible it doesn’t have the made in china tag if it’s a real one? Or where is it supposed to be? In a different pocket than the main one? Please help!! I want to report it ASAP if it’s a fake ;_; although it is cute… Here: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3202269883 46
AoD-someone else can verify but I am fairly certain that your bag is real. Not sure why it says 2007 Spring bag but it came out in the winter of 2007 and the lining is suppose to be gray.
Oooh really? That’s reassuring if the inside is supposed to be gray! My mom still can’t find the tag though and that worries me…. Well, i’ll take a chance I guess and keep it. O_o It seems the tag is the only thing that’s not there. The rest fits perfectly with the real ones. Aah well, guess i’ll never know. ^-^ Thanks.
AoD – It’s real. Also, a fake bag would never be so subtle as having a missing Made in China as the ONLY thing wrong with it, and there is no such thing as a fake tokidoki bag with real riri zippers.