Counterfeit trends in fashion and beauty, shaped by AI and social media

Since 2020, we’ve all watched technology advance at a dizzying pace. Combined with careful strategy, that technology has created new trends that define the counterfeit industry today. In this post, we look directly at the key trends in counterfeiting and their impact on the industry, and at the ongoing standoff between brand protection and fakes.

Key counterfeit trends in fashion and beauty

• More sophisticated e-commerce listings: changes in product pages and key wording
• Social media as a breeding ground for knock-offs
• Gen Z’s changing view of knock-offs
• Counterfeiters adopting AI

Trend 1: More sophisticated e-commerce listings

Changes in product pages and key wording

Protecting a brand takes constant effort. Companies and intellectual property (IP) experts keep adopting sharper strategies and technology, but counterfeiters are getting more sophisticated and cunning too. Every year, they retool their operations to sell fakes more effectively.

In particular, counterfeiters build their growth on avoiding detection online and escaping legal action. As the technology for finding fakes online improves, counterfeiters have made their products harder to find and harder to remove from e-commerce sites and online marketplaces.

Product names, trademarks and key wording dropped from e-commerce listings entirely

Counterfeiters know that official product names, trademarks and key product wording are the easiest and fastest way for fashion and beauty brands to find fakes online. So they avoid official product names, trademarks, product photos and key wording, leaving them out of listings and product pages entirely.

Using only their own product photos

As image recognition technology becomes more widespread, many counterfeit sellers no longer use the brand’s own product images, because companies can easily find them and use them to identify fake sellers.

Brand logos can also be detected with AI. That allows more action against brazen counterfeit sellers and limits the images they can use. To avoid detection, counterfeit sellers often shoot their own product photos and cover up the brand logo. That makes it harder for AI to find the logo.

Trend 2: Social media as a breeding ground for knock-offs

By removing key wording and product images, counterfeit sellers could hide more easily and avoid having products removed from online marketplaces.

So how do they promote fakes? In this constrained environment, the channel they turned to was social media. Their heavy use of TikTok in particular created new problems.

Ads for knock-offs surged through RepTok, one of TikTok’s largest communities, and videos promoting fake products racked up billions of views. TikTokers used hashtags such as “dupes” and “reps” to make eye-catching videos comparing or showing off knock-offs. The videos openly acknowledge that the products are fakes and brag about their quality and low prices.

Key terms

• What are dupes? “Dupe” means “to deceive” or “to trick.” On social media, the hashtag surfaces content comparing products of similar performance at different price points, or comparing fakes with genuine products.
• What are reps? Short for “replica shoes,” meaning fake shoes. The hashtag surfaces content such as unboxings and hauls of knock-off shoes, and information on where to buy them.

The aim of these videos is to rack up views and then steer viewers to other sales channels, linking them to public Google Sheets or private messaging platforms such as Discord, Snapchat and WhatsApp.

These counterfeit brokers then point users to online marketplaces such as DHgate and Pandabuy, or let them buy there. To avoid detection, the marketplace listings are coded.

MarqVision content - The reality of TikTok’s RepTok: watch our video exposing counterfeit ads

Trend 3: Gen Z’s changing view of knock-offs

Gen Z, people born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, sees knock-offs differently. Just as “dupes” and “reps” have become everyday words on social media, this changing attitude toward fakes has brought a new paradigm. It means that not only companies but consumers too need to move toward valuing genuine products and brand value.

Gen Z’s close relationship with fakes can be seen as emblematic of its mindset: questioning established norms, including conventional ideas about intellectual property (IP). According to statistics from INTA (International Trademark Association), a full 79% of Gen Z bought a knock-off in the past year.

Gen Z’s choices centered mainly on clothing, shoes and electronics (household appliances), driven by the view that fakes are a cheaper alternative that looks good enough to fool people.

Research by the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) shows similar results: more than 50% of Gen Z said buying knock-offs is acceptable. These statistics point to a buying reality beyond a change in attitude, and show that counterfeiting isn’t just a market problem but a new reality for brands that reflects evolving consumer values.

As brands try to navigate this changing counterfeit landscape, understanding Gen Z’s relationship with knock-offs is essential to keeping their authenticity and meaning.

Embracing “dupes” reflects one generation’s distinctive approach to authenticity and consumption, and sets up a dynamic interplay between brands, consumers and evolving market trends.

Trend 4: Counterfeiters adopting AI

The last major trend in counterfeiting is the adoption of AI. As AI tools have become widely known and used by the general public, counterfeiters’ ability to operate online has improved dramatically.

Writing fake reviews

It has become far easier for counterfeit sellers to fake positive reviews or generate and upload them in bulk. With AI writing tools such as Google Bard and ChatGPT, they can write thousands of fake product reviews.

Reviews are the most common way shoppers check whether a product is genuine before buying, and fake reviews muddy the waters, making it even harder to buy the real thing.

AI-generated images

AI-generated product images are expected to become a fast-growing concern for brands. As AI gets more sophisticated, counterfeit sellers are on the verge of using convincing fake images made with tools such as Midjourney and DALL-E 3 to cause problems across e-commerce platforms.

For now, the free versions of these tools can’t produce perfect imitations, and limits on how often users can access the software restrict how many fake images counterfeit sellers can make.

But we’re at the very start of AI-generated images spreading widely. Given how fast the technology is developing, it may not be long before online marketplaces are flooded with them.

These fake images could evade AI image and object recognition software. Flaws that are obvious to a person may not register precisely with an AI trying to understand the image.

Virtual influencers

Virtual influencers are among the most innovative and compelling AI products, and they could transform the counterfeit industry. Lu do Magalu, a virtual influencer from Brazil, is the most notable example. These new digital characters gain large followings on social media platforms and can wield real influence.

The trends above use virtual influencers to deceive consumers, and with Gen Z in particular they can actually drive purchases. The more attention these virtual influencers get, the more likely they are to mislead, and brand protection strategies that adapt to the market, such as consumer education, are urgently needed.

Counterfeit sales: how can companies respond?

As K-content grows in popularity, you can see clothes and products worn or used by celebrities on dramas and variety shows becoming hugely popular. If your product suddenly sells out one day, the joy is short-lived: a war against fakes awaits.

At first, people at the company may search for counterfeit sales themselves and contact sellers to request removal. But as malicious counterfeit sellers multiply, even keeping up with their changing tactics can become overwhelming. Counterfeit sales, at home and abroad, always come when you least expect them.

MarqVision makes protecting the value of your products more efficient, easier and faster, in four steps:

1. We break down images of a wide range of products, including steady sellers and fast-rising hits, to detect counterfeit sales online quickly and accurately
2. We remove the sellers who made and sold the fakes.
3. With MarqVision’s legal team and IP protection experts, you can pursue offline legal action strategically.
4. Comprehensive analysis and consulting, by country and by product, lets you protect your brand strategically.

So that business owners and beauty and fashion brand managers can focus on product development and new growth opportunities, MarqVision provides visibility into counterfeit sales and the losses they cause. To learn more about MarqVision’s AI-based solution, talk to our team.