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*
yeah, thats what i figured about the print being sold out for over year thing and thanks about the ebay thing! thanx a lot!
Hey I really like all this Tokidoki stuff and my Mom bought me a shirt in new york. It’s the Women’s Rocco one and the buckle is green but in the shop pic the buckle is gray.
Are there fake tokidoki shirts? Or is it just the bags I should be worried about? And should I take a pic?
Kate – Where did your Mom buy the shirt? A reputable store (= real) or Chinatown (= fake)?
I recently bought a tokidoki bag, and I thought it was real. But after eading this blog, i discovered that it didn’t say the riri thing on the zipper head. Since I already cut the tag off, do you think that they’ll let me return it if I tell them it’s a fake? Cause when I bought it they said it was 100% authentic.
i meant reading**
Jenny – Before you return it, are you sure that you are looking under the zipper HEAD (the part the teeth go into) and not the zipper PULL? Are there any other signs that the bag is fake?
Wow, it looks real to me.That’s the problem I suppose, I think I’ve just bought some fakes (in Tokyo) and am really mad!
Hai, I am about to buy a secondhand Tokidoki Ecomondo bag online, but I am having trouble distinguishing if it’s real. Could you please help me out? Thanks so much!!!
http://link.marktplaats.nl/302253889
Elizabeth – It’s real.
I have a fake one, I got it in chinatown but at least it was only 20 bucks, even though I LOOOVVEE tokidoki i love their clothing their little stuff but the bags are just overpriced even though they ARE really cool, plus I don’t really care if it’s fake or not, people don’t really recognize it. if u wonna get a fake one (u prob won’t but the real one’s like 400 i mean seriously!!) just go to the ny chinatown and it’s everywhere, if ur a kid they’ll give u it for 15 bucks
good luck!!
I just bought a tokidoki for hello kitty white wallet. It doesn’t look like very good quality the. Gold chain it comes with it is very light when my other items like this the chain is always very heavy. The gold is also a slightly differnent color its darker very cheap looking. There is also a round zipper inside it that says funky divas? The diamond with the face that is on the print always has a little twinke star thing next to it. The diamond on this wallet does not. I’m so disgusted with people selling fake stuff and saying it is “authentic” if its fake just say its fake there’s a lot of people who don’t care. I don’t like fake stuff the quality just isn’t the same. Could someone help me out.
Hi, Do all tokidoki bags come with carabiner and strecthy cord?
The tokidoki for LeSportSac bags all have carabiners and a black and white stretchy cord. The newer tokidoki bags, not affiliated with lesportsac have little leather strips with clips on the end.
Hi, I saw a tokidoki bag in ebay and it has a riri m6 on the back of the zipper and multicolored zipper but has no carabiner and stretchy cord. It also has qee doll. Does this mean it is a fake tokidoki bag? Looks so authentic and the seller says that it is authentic or money back guaranteed. How do I know if it is the real thing? Thanks
If it has riri on the zipper you’re safe. My guess is that it is a newer style bag, the new styles don’t have carabiners or stretchy cords.
Thanks Rachel.
I agree with Lily. I have a fakie i just bought in chinatown and i love it. It serves both purposes i bought it for. A) functional as a bag, B) super cute, oh and C) didn’t break the bank. If Tokidoki didn’t charge so much for these bags i would feel bad for not supporting the company and buying a fakie but since they probably mark up the bags they sell about 600% i don’t lose any sleep over it.
Forget the fact that knowingly buying a knock off is just as good as stealing. Come on guys. Seriously. How would you feel if they were YOUR designs being bootlegged? These fakes are an inferior product and you should feel ashamed for intentionally paying people to steal Mr. Legno’s designs.
Ebay appears to not care about fake bags being up on their site ANY LONGER. Recently a schlew of fake ‘lesportsac’ and/or ‘tokidoki’ bags have made it onto ebay, and they aren’t even good fakes and I have reported them, and they won’t take them down! One lady had four fakes up, and 2 sellers I have contacted about them being fake. Two even has several bids on it! It seems the newer fans don’t know the difference, but I feel it is ebays responsibility, not the buyer!
Here some up right now. 120578900112- 120578898724- 160442105850- 250648321102. There were more, but I wasn’t watching all of them. I think I may be the only one reporting them. Or maybe the buyers don’t really care??
I report directly to tokidoki. fraud@tokidoki.it is the email.
I thought fraud@tokidoki.it would only care about factory or mass produced reports?? The listings are done, so I don’t know if it matters. One fake bag sold for 76!! It is obviously fake, nothing sneaky about it.
Nope, they will shut down any auction that is fake. I think the issue with those auctions is that they weren’t listed as tokidoki bags, so it is harder to prove to ebay.
Hi all,
In need of some help. I think I have just been had. I brought a fake vancanze bag, tried reporting it to the tokidoki website but the email addresses and phone numbers dont work
Anyone know how else I can contact them?
Cici xx
Cici did you buy it on eBay? If so, you can go through eBay to get your money back.
In any case, the e-mail address fraud@tokidoki.it does work. I use it all the time reporting fakes on eBay.
Hiya,
Ebay type site, going to open a dispute now. Tried the email address again and still getting failure notices
Not really sure what else I can do.
Cxx
what website did you buy from?
Thank you guys SO much for all the advice; I had no idea about all this!! I’m so glad I found this place before I bought a tokidoki bag on eBay. I was trying to save some money but I could have ended up wasting it! Thanks!
It’s a good thing you posted this online because sometimes people cant tell the difference between a real bag and a fake bag then end up getting tricked.
Hola!! x favor alguien me puede decir si una cartera que compre hace unos dias asi q es una cartera de la temporada 2010 ! si no tiene el codigo en la cremallera es falsa!? xq mi cartera la compre en una tienda de tokidoki original en uruguay, y si es falsa seria un delito! no? y tampoco en ningun lado dice tokidoki for leSportsac y tampoco dice en ningun lado made in china ni nada!! eso significa que es falsa! alguen q me responda plis!
OH. MY. GOODNESS. I just accidentally stumbled across a website with CHOKE (plenty) Tokidoki fakes! Over 1000, even shoes, being mass produced! I am not going to disclose the website as I am strongly against counterfeits, though many of the readers argue why it’s ok. At first i wasn’t sure, then a buyer left a remark that made it clear what was going on. My cousin says her friend buys plenty fakes in LA and sells them for 35.00 at a shop in Phoenix. It’s crazy! At first I thought they were REALLY good fakes, but as I read more seller responses I realized they were using ‘real’ photos and then sending the fake swap meet version to the buyer.
I meant buyer responses, my bad
Emma, you should report the site to Tokidoki and hopefully, they can get them to close it down.
I did the other day. Not sure how much they can do besides physically going to the factories themselves to stop it. Anyone know what the tokidoki fraud department does to stop counterfeits?
Ok, so I got some bags as a gift from a friend. All the bags she has given me so far are real, with the riri M6 on the zippers…Except for the three I had just received. All the official tags are there, and the Macy’s label tag is there too… But the zipppers are missing the riri M6 on them, so I am a little confused…
these are the new bags. They are not from LeSportSac, just made directly by Tokidoki. They do not seem to have the same consistency or quality, and there are not many patterns to what make them authentic, as the cuts and styles change with each release. Maybe I am wrong and there is some symmetry, but it appears to me that they just keep making different shaped bags. Yes they are authentic. I haven’t seen anyone trying to duplicate the newer ones yet. Has anyone else?
I have seen a couple of fakes of the new bags, but they were SO fake that anyone could spot them.
There is a seller on ebay, who is ‘pretending’ she doesn’t know her bags are fake. I emailed her for closeups of 260687048574. Once she sent I saw the ‘this of flower spring’ the rest is amazingly close. You couldn’t even see that in the listing. I let her know, pointed her to this site, and she said she would put it in her listing. Instead all she puts is ‘These bags are being sold because they were an unwanted gift. I cannot guarantee their authenticity as I did not purchase them.’ She told me the same thing before she sent me pictures!
If it wasn’t for the ‘l’amore’ being a fake, it would be really hard to tell on the other two. 260687045999, 260687040536, but she got them all from the same person. This is making me angry. I reported it, but because I am one of the few people who got closeups of the bag no one else will know to report it. If anyone else wants to help you can report them too, as she is being purposely deceptive.
Hey, I’m new to tokidok; I just recently picked up one that my gf wanted from ebay because it was no longer available on the main site (partenza crossbody cartolina). I was a bit worried because the pattern didn’t match the picture (but I’m thinking that tokidoki bags aren’t supposed to be homogeneous?).
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11316369/photo.JPG
vs http://www.thegiantpeach.com/productimages/main/detailed/bra nds/tokidoki/spring10bags/600-pocopococartolina%20(15).jpg
But in the process, I decided to look up tell-tale signs in general, and I came across this bit about a riri m6 that’s beneath the zipper. Is that only pertaining to that particular style of bag (the one with the rainbow teeth?).
Thanks!
Jason – All tokidoki bags have unique print placement, which is part of what makes them so collectible.
Thanks! That’s what I figured…but I was getting awfully paranoid.
What about the zipper thing I mentioned? Was the riri thing only on specific products?
My “Guide to Fakes” only applies to the “tokidoki for LeSportsac” line of bags that were produced in 2006-2007. From 2008 onwards, the bags are being produced under the tokidoki brand name only, and aren’t really being faked any more (or if they are, the fakes are SUPER obvious). The riri M6 stamp only applies to bags with rainbow zippers.
Ohhh, gotcha. I was wondering why your blog, although still updated, didn’t have a guide to fakes section that proceeded further in time. Thanks for the information!
PLEASE BEWARE EVERYONE! 330494359739, ebay. Bags are getting much harder to figure out, and more time has passed to perfect an almost perfect fake bag.
Hi,
I bought a tokidoki purse (Dolci, pattern is fumetto) off eBay. It looks pretty real to me, but the zipper doesn’t say “riri” on it. Does this guide only apply to Lesportsac tokidoki bags?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=true &item=320628092329&si=PBHnGlVglUNvlEu2Ie0IgIRqg0A%253D&viewi tem=&hash=item76bfa6d925
(Fumetto)
Hi Julia,
I hope I’m not too late in replying. I bought a “real” tokidoki bag too, mine doesn’t have a “riri” on it either. I think this guide is for the old lesportsac bags (phew!).
I bought it at the god damn store so it better not be a fake!
hey,
i think i have just purchased a fake tokidoki bag. What do i do?
Vali x
http://cgi.ebay.com/NWT-Tokidoki-Carnival-Carezza-Large-Mess enger-/140542724833?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26 itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D170040944 676755154
I was looking at tokidoki bags on ebay last night and came across this one but I’m not sure if it’s the real thing. I only have one tokidoki bag of my own sadly and it’s not a LeSportsac (the key leash is a leather strap with a clip not the bungie cord), also I bought it at Nordstrom. So I’m new to looking for these bags online. The things about this bag I was looking into that didn’t look right to me were that the leather patches that hold the straps onto the bag are only on the front of the bag. On my bag it’s on both sides. And I’m not sure what color that bungie cord is supposed to be. What I’ve read so far on the older ones it should be black and white. Also the Qee isn’t in plastic in the first few photos but is in plastic on the last photo. I’m kind of confused can you please help me out?
@Hayley;
Carezzas only have leather on one side & there shouldn’t be a Bungie Cord on bags after the Vacanze print.
That bag is authentic.
As for the Qee, you should send a PM to a seller. He/She could’ve taken the picture before she opened the Qee.
Just ask away if you have anymore questions.
Good luck! (:
There is a bungie cord on that bag I gave the link for, it’s silver to match the trim on the inside of the bag. The only info I found for the color of the bungie is for the older bags that were supposed to have black and white bungies. That’s why I wasn’t sure if the silver is a correct color for the bag I was interested in.
Oops. Sorry about that! I don’t own 2008 bags so I’m not too familiar with them either.. though I was pretty sure they didn’t have bungie cords in them, I guess they do.
& Yes, only the tokidoki for Lesportsac bags have the striped ones. For further confirmation, you can sign up for the tokidoki forum so tokidoki enthusiasts can help you.
http://tokidoki.freeforums.org/post105472.html#p105472