Hi all
I went to Vietnam earlier in the year and bought a North Face jacket. A puffer vest. I managed to snag it for about $25 AUD. It looks and feels good. I picked it up in Hanoi from a local corner shop.
It had the proper North Face tags etc on it…but at the same time I picked it up from the corner store. I hear that North Face manufactures a lot of its stuff in Vietnam, and hence it's super cheap…but that's just what a local tourist told me.
Do you think it's real or fake?
Sounds likely to be fake but you never know, maybe an employee steals them from the factory!
Who cares? Just wear it like a boss.
Fake. But often quality is not much worse - listen to JetLi's advice :)
yeah that's what I do - rocking it right now !!!
Just curious thought, because tehq uality seems fine - I mean…i've not had any issues and the logo looks the exact same as the official logo - so I can't imagine it to be fake
The fakes are incredibly convincing though. Especially in Vietnam, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference unless you worked for North Face
But if you held it next to the genuine article, you'd probably notice little stitching differences, a different zipper perhaps.
Really nothing worth worrying about - i met some people who have had fakes from Vietnam that lasted them years and years!
Slash it open and see what it is lined with.
I reckon genuine but stolen from the factory or similar/fell off the back of the truck.
Fake, some of it is really bad quality.
I cycled through Vietnam, then head a week in Japan afterwards in the middle of January. So I purchased some fake northface in Vietnam for the week in Japan, since all i had was cycling clothes with me.
The fake northface bag came apart in the airport, ended up getting it wrapped in bubble wrap so i could take it on the plane.
The jacket had one of the sleeves come undone and the pockets all fell apart in Japan.
Could be a genuine but with defects (like wrong materials or measurements) or most likely fake but there's 'good' fake or crap fakes. I saw heaps of fakes in Nepal too at 10% of a real jacket from a real genuine North Face Store in kathmandu. Some of the fakes were really bad and had little down material inside them.
Either way, if you can't tell the difference then its a 'good' fake. It if falls apart then its a crap fake.
and if it wraps itself around you and contracts then you probably bought a boa constrictor
But now you have snake leather, so that's a bargain!
Are you happy with it, does it do the job? if so who cares.
if you can't tell the difference then neither can the 1000's of people you walk past a day at a glance. (would have to be glaringly obvious)
Check the north face catalog see if you can find the same item if your that bothered.
Quite a lot of the stuff your having trouble picking real from fake are factory seconds with a very minor defect.
Check the spelling. That will tell you if genuine or fake
What if it says 'The North Fake' - is it real?
Yes then it will be a genuine The North Fake
your question should be "fake or fake?"
Define "local tourist"?
I have a Gore-Tex NF jacket and underlay I bought for $40 in Vietnam. Been skiing with it and everything. Apparently I bought it in the same town that has the NF factory. I believe it is genuine but not official. Might be a factory second or something.
I also bought a Lowe Alpine bag for $12 which is definitely fake, but still half decent for the price, still using it after 6 years.
Haha you have a good memory.
I wonder what it is filled with?? If it is warm and functional just use it, who cares if its fake.
Rat fur, if you're lucky?
If branded items are sold in a mum and dad's type of small shop, it's most likely fake.
Best way to know is take it to snow and find out if it keeps you warm.
A trip to the local bottle o cool room might be a quicker and cheaper alternative.
it will just look like you are trying to steal alcohol in your puffy jacket.
Hwy kid, what did you do, jump ship or something?
Depends on what you got tbh. There are bad fakes but Vietnam produces better ones.. almost enough to pass off as real.
They're probably made in the same factory or same materials
Hopefully not a puffy filled with Mr Fluffy.
Real North Face jackets have a little hologram sticker on a white tag, bunched with the dry-cleaning instructions. I guess it's easy to get hologram stickers, but at least you know that if your jacket doesn't have one, it's definitely fake. If it does have one, then you don't really know anything more than you did before..!
Time will tell. I bought a North Face soft shell jacket in Sapa nine years ago. At the time I didn't care if fake or not - I just needed a warm jacket before I went on a trek. This one was A$18 and seemed reasonable. I'm still wearing it frequently now and it's held up incredibly well - apart from one of the elastic hood toggles pulling out early on it's still in great condition.
Ditto - bought a NF Windstopper softshell jacket from the markets in Xi'an back in 2007. I wear it nearly everyday in winter. Still going strong.
Came with all the "official" tags and labels. I assumed it was either a "2nd" or maybe a "fell off the back of a truck" but looked to be genuine.
i.e. actually made in a proper NF factory. At 110RMB (~$20AUD) at the time I'm not complaining!
Been to Hanoi a few times recently with my partner who lives/born there.
Generally the ones in the corner (market stalls) are fake, but actual stores that are labelled "Made in Vietnam" stock factory seconds/rejects.
For example a tommy polo, the logo will be slightly off center. These stores usually stock major brands including north face/polo ralph/fred perry etc.
I Purchased a north face from there for about $45 a few months ago, with all the tags as described in previous posts. Found the same jacket in the corner stalls which was more expensive and poor quality.
I could be completely wrong, but this is how I perceive fakes in VN, regardless the quality is pretty decent for the price you pay.
I purchased a North Face jacket two years ago, and one of the buttons came off, so I disputed the transaction on my credit credit and the merchant didn't respond in 90 days, so I received a full refund. I still wear the jacket today
What was your dispute reason?
Faulty product, sent the dispute team photos
Lol just cane from hanoi
Every tom dick and harry was wearing a north face jacket. Its really bad lol.. north face cant do much about it?
The funny thing I actually brought my real one over.. safe to say i didnt wear too much haha. Kind of tunred me off the brand.
Most people think NF stuff you see in the local stores are usually fake.
I've been to vietnam and bought some "Adidas" sneakers, which of course, were fake as anything once I found out how quickly the soles started to wear after a week in.
Anyway, fake or not, I bought them at the price that Kmart would've sold a pair of generic sneakers for, so I wasn't bothered all that much.