Nike Claims StockX Is Selling Fake Sneakers Labeled As ‘Authentic’ Following Its Sting Operation On The Platform

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• Nike has escalated its legal battle with StockX after taking the platform to court earlier this year
• The company behind some of the world’s most iconic sneakers claims it was able to buy multiple pairs of fake shoes the reseller advertised as “Verified Authentic”
• Check out more shoe-related news here

I feel like most sneakerheads have a fairly complicated relationship with the internet thanks to the paradoxical nature of the technology that’s responsible for making footwear both more and less accessible than it’s ever been.

We’ve largely moved on from the days when the news regularly featured reports about someone getting shot or stabbed outside a mall thanks to tensions surrounding the drop of a highly-anticipated pair of Jordans, but the fact that you can now secure most kicks with just a few clicks certainly has its downsides.

That includes the many issues you can run into when trying to cop sought-after shoes online—an issue that has long-plagued prospective buyers and the companies who supply them. Sneaker culture has always had a thriving secondary market, but it’s reached unprecedented levels of absurdity courtesy of the streetwear explosion of the 2010s and the legion of hypebeasts it spawned.

There’s now an insane amount of money to be made when it comes to quenching that group’s thirst for fresh jawns, and the internet is home to plenty of places where resellers can flip their wares. Of course, the internet is also home to plenty of scammers looking to make a quick buck, which makes platforms that offer certain protections especially attractive to buyers.

That includes StockX, which is one of the most popular sneaker marketplaces on the internet and one that claims to have a 99.95% accuracy rate when it comes to authenticating items. However, it’s now seen its legitimacy called into question courtesy of the biggest player in the sneaker game: Nike.

According to Hypebeast, StockX initially attracted the ire of Nike after the latter filed a lawsuit concerning a line of NFTs it claimed infringed on its trademark back in February. Things have only escalated from there, as new court filings show the apparel giant has now taken aim at the “Verified Authentic” label the platform uses to assuage the fears of consumers.

It appears Nike decided to run a sting operation that involved buying pairs of its own shoes on StockX, and in the updated lawsuit, the company claims four of the pairs it purchased (including some “Patent Bred” Air Jordan 1s) were determined to be counterfeit after they were examined upon arrival.

StockX issued a statement calling the accusations “baseless” and described the move as a “panicked and desperate attempt to resuscitate its losing legal case.” There’s no telling how this will ultimately unfold, but with that said, it’s certainly not a great look.