Flaunting designer hauls on social media used to be the key to gaining thousands of loyal followers. But for Gen Z, it’s all about bagging a bargain – and showing their followers how they can do it too.
Content around ‘dupes’, or duplicates, has blown up in recent years on social media, as the cost of living crunch has hit home. To date, the hashtag #dupe has over 4.3 billion views on TikTok alone.
It’s led to a surge in youngsters snapping up duplicate versions of premium products from – and designer items – for a fraction of the price.
While Lululemon workout shorts cost up to $74, influencers like Ariana Vitale, who has over 228,000 followers on TikTok, explain how similar items can be found on Amazon for as little as $10.
Vitale, who told her followers she worked at Lululemon for over two and a half years, swears that they look and feel just as good as the original. ‘They look identical, between the fabric, the material, the seams, everything,’ she said in a video.
In fact, Lululemon is so much at the center of the so-called dupe economy that it hosted a pop-up event in Los Angeles last month where shoppers were able to swap their dupe leggings for real ones – free of charge.
But why are Gen Z so seduced by the idea of luxury on a budget?
Young consumers are the most likely group to buy dupes because they simply cannot afford the real thing, according to YPulse, which collects research on Gen Z (born 1997 to 2013) and Millennials (born 1981 to 1996).
According to the insights platform, 47 percent of 13-to 39-year-olds said they had purchased a dupe luxury product.
Plus, Gen Z are a particularly financially savvy generation who are conscious about saving money, Walker Post, from social impact consultancy DoSomething Strategic, told Vogue Business.
The senior strategist said: ‘Many of them witnessed the 2008 recession as children, before living through Covid and the current economic downturn. They are spending differently since the pandemic.’
It’s also easy for Gen Z to find tips and tricks for finding the best bargains as they typically spend more time on social media.
Danielle Carmody from Atlanta, Georgia, told USA Today she regularly scans Instagram for dupes of everyday things she wants to buy.
But for the hoards of people who are looking for cheap fashion, content creators swear by the China-based third-party selling site DH Gate, which is a prolific destination for high-end and luxury dupes.
A logo-free replica of a designer bag, which would cost over $2,500 if bought new, is available on the site for as little as $19.
But experts warn there is a darker side to the search for luxury items on a shoestring, which could be a slippery slope into purchasing criminal counterfeit items.
Among the acceptable dupes on the website crop up distinctive logos of well-known designer brands.
Paul DelPonte, an executive director at the National Crime Prevention Council (NPCP) told DailyMail.com that while the appetite for a bargain is not a new phenomenon, the danger is ‘the cultural acceptance of fake goods.’
‘If you buy a product at a respected retailer that looks similar to a more expensive product, it doesn’t violate any laws, but the danger is in the cultural acceptance in the notion of a dupe, which could lead to an increase in the sale of counterfeit products. And these do fund a criminal enterprise,’ he said.
The counterfeit goods market has exploded into a $2 trillion economy worldwide, as it is increasingly difficult for consumers to know the difference between real products and fakes.
DelPonte said: ‘Dupes have popped up on the scene in a major way in the last year or two. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword to the extent that the “dupe culture”, so to speak, is opening up legitimate companies to manufacture things, it might squeeze out some of the illegal manufacturing and distribution of fakes, which would be a good thing.
‘But at the same time it feeds into that cultural mindset that people can get something just as good as that named brand for a lot less, and fuel further growth of an already exploding criminal enterprise of fake goods.’
Earlier this month, Nordstrom Rack was at the center of a legal dispute after it was accused of selling knock-off clothing from designer Patagonia.
The issue is particularly concerning for electricals and cosmetics which can seriously injure buyers – and in some cases has even killed them.
Data from the NPCP estimates that fake products now account for 3.3 percent of world trade.
A separate study by the US Government Accountability Office suggests as many as 25 percent of shoppers have purchased some kind of counterfeit product online.
Many dupes shoppers turn to Amazon, but the company told Vogue Business that it is working hard to ensure demand for replicas does not result in more counterfeit products on the platform.
In 2020, it initiated a joint lawsuit with Valentino against a seller selling fake shoes on the site.
Anna Dalla Val, Director of Global Brand Relations at Amazon said: ‘We remain focused on using every tool at our disposal to protect brands, customers, and selling partners from intellectual property and brand infringement, and we aggressively pursue anyone who violates our zero-tolerance policy for counterfeit products.’
