Tokidoki Blog

Has anyone else seen the new fakes page on the official tokidoki website yet? It actually links people to my blog’s guide to fakes! I am shocked and honored. It also encourages everyone to report fakes that you find on eBay to info@tokidoki.it so that they can go after the counterfeiters and shut them down.  This is exciting news!

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*

I just wanted to warn everyone that eBay seller jpm9674 has a number of tokidoki bag auctions up right now that feature photos that were stolen from other collectors. I advise everyone not to bid on any of this seller’s auctions. Also, remember to watermark your photos before posting them publicly on the internet to avoid having them stolen by unscrupulous individuals. If you are new to tokidoki, check out my List of eBay Users Who Sell Real tokidoki Bags & Clothes for sellers who are definitely safe to buy from (I have also made some recent updates to the list – if you know of any additional sellers who belong on the list, please comment on that post with your updates).

UPDATE: jpm9674 has been suspended from eBay, and appears to have re-registered with the username alewis677 (who is also stealing other people’s photos).

It seems that the manufacturers of fake tokidoki bags are slowly working their way through all of the prints, and they are now up to Famiglia. I updated my How to Avoid Fake tokidoki Bags on eBay guide today with the latest in fake prints – I debunk a fake Spiaggia “weekender” in #8 (note to tokidoki newbies: there is no such thing as a tokiodoki weekender, in any print), and do a fake vs. real side-by-side comparison of the first fake Famiglia bag to hit eBay in #23. Since there are so many tokidoki Famiglia bags on eBay right now, I just wanted to warn everyone to keep their eyes peeled for fakes if you are doing any bleary-eyed last minute Christmas shopping.

I have updated my Guide To Fake Tokidoki Bags on Ebay yet again – item #22 is the new addition. I see that some of the fake bags have a qee with a star on the arm in the photos now, so I just wanted to be sure that no one was getting fooled by the latest generation of fakes. I also added a few new photos of fake bags & qees to the post. So many of the new fakes are so silly-looking and hideous that I think you can all spot them without any help though.

Some ebay sellers who are currently selling fake Tokidoki bags: 4flatoxin, kitten_kandy (formerly badkittyspurr), qualitycentral, teeweepie, tw.thailand, mickey-pooh105.

Reader Courtney recently bought a fake Tokidoki bag from ebay seller karyna07, and was nice enough to write up this guide to try to help others before she returned her fake bag:

I have been a fan of the tokidoki line since they came out. I own eight bags now…all that were bought through the store or directly from Lesportsac by phone. I saw a bag on ebay the other day that had the first edition print in the Nuvola style. I thought it was weird that they had the first edition print in the Nuvola since I didn’t remember seeing that style bag come out until after that editon. But I love the Nuvola, and just had to have it so I bought it on ebay. Luckily the ebay seller, karyna07, is going to refund me my money, but the other listings that she has now are non-refundable. I did contact ebay about the fakes. And after seeing your website, I thought that I should send some of the pictures of the fake I bought before I returned it. A few notes:

1. The ipod pocket has no hole for the earphones. It is also a lot smaller than the original and instead it has a tokidoki label sewn in place of the hole.

2. The top zipper that should open to a small pocket, instead just opens to the inside of the bag.

3. The lining of the bag is the right color, but it is missing the zippered pocket and the tokidoki label.

4. The zipper tabs are the wrong color. They are a matte silver color.

5. It is hard to see in the picture, but the printing is really bad. Parts of the bag were “hazy”.

6. The bag emanated a strong plastic smell.

7. The strap has plastic hardware instead of the metal.

Picture of the fake bag:

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My note to everyone reading – if you see a first season print bag style (or any other season for that matter) that does not exist in my Tokidoki Bag Archive, the bag is fake. It has been awhile since I have had the time to work on updating the archive, but I will be adding more to it today! I will also finish posting my Tokidoki collection photos soon.