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*

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).

Guide to Fake Tokidoki Bags Update
I recently updated #5 of my How to Avoid Fake Tokidoki Bags on eBay guide to include information about the new batch of second generation original Tokidoki print bags that recently hit the LeSportsac Seattle outlet store. I also included some photos of the hardware on fake Pirata bags that have been showing up on eBay lately at the end of #5 so that you can weed out the Pirata fakes more easily.

Tokidoki Bag Archive Update
I am working on updating the Tokidoki Bag Archive on this site again, and I am (finally!) finishing up the Fall 2006 season of bags and getting ready to start adding the Winter 2006 bags. I should have more time to work on the guide again for the next few days, so hopefully I’ll make some decent progress.

The following eBay users sell fake tokidoki bags and/or hoodies:

*Sellers with a red star have sold a mixture of fake and real tokidoki items.

Australian fakes:
a_signature
diamond.shu
donnavaughan64
eclecticworld58
heatmovie1942
highfashionau
iced.milkshake
m0m3niqu3
mn070
org_minoriti

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

If you look closely, you can spot a number of differences:

1. The real qee has a red star on its left arm, and the fake one does not.

2. The real qee has a thicker, smoother keyring than the fake qee does.

3. The yellow stripe in the rainbow on the fake qee’s chest is much wider.

4. The real qee has black marks on its left ear, and the fake qee does not.

5. The real qee has a pink heart on it’s left cheek, and the fake qee does not.