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Counterfeit SI Gloves?

MrLee

Oakley Beginner
Hi guys, bare with me on this one, it may be a bit lengthy.

I just bought a pair of SI gloves off the bay, for £15. The seller said she had two pairs that have been sitting in their garage for around 18 months after her and her husband bought a pair for Downhill riding but didn't like them.

For that price I couldn't say no, as I have been after a pair for sometime, and short of shelling near retail (Added to the fact that a lot of military stores are out of stock due to the high demand for them from guys on deployment in Afghan) I have been struggling to find a pair for a decent price.

So, they came through and I was reasonably happy with my purchase until I noticed a few spelling errors on the warranty card, which set a few alarm bells ringing.

My question is: Are there any HIGH QUALITY counterfeits floating about?

Now, I have a pair of genuine Factory Pilot Gloves (The Gen 1 pair which are black with the mesh palm, as opposed to the palm that Oakley adopted after they became popular with mil guys and branded them as SI)

I also have a pair of FAKE SI GLOVES IN TAN. I bought these in Hong Kong for a few quid for a laugh, just until I got my real pair. I know there are LOADS of fake SI gloves about, but they are so easy to tell apart from the real ones for a number of reasons which I will outline below. This is why I am asking if there are any counterfeits about? As in high quality knock-offs designed to be sold as genuine?

So, here are some pictures...

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From Left to Right: Factory Pilot Gloves, Gloves in Question, Fake SI Gloves

Comparison1.jpg


Comparison2.jpg


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Finger Tip Comparison: Factory Pilot Gloves, Gloves in Question, Fake SI Gloves

Factory_Pilot_Tips.jpg


SI_Tips.jpg


Fake_Tips.jpg


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Label Comparison...

Factory Pilot Glove:

Factory_Pilot_Label.jpg


Gloves in Question:

SI_Label_1.jpg


SI_Label_2.jpg


Fake:

Fake_Label_1.jpg


Fake_Label_2.jpg
 
The Fakes are a dead giveaway because the colour is way off, the material is wrong, the knuckles are also the wrong shape.

Left: Real
Right: Fake

Comp3.jpg


Left: Real
Right: Fake

Comp2.jpg


Left: Real
Right: Fake

Comp2.jpg


--------

Packaging they came in:

Packaging.jpg


Warranty_Card.jpg


The warranty card said "Syntherics" and had a few misplaced spaces here and there which is what triggered my suspicion. I hope I'm being overly ridiculous...

So for peace of mind, are my gloves legit?
 
The palm material is called pittard leather, which from a cursory glance looks correct. The material on the back of the hand matches the palm on my Factory Pilot Leather Palm pair in black.

The retail packaging is wrong. Mine slid in from the top and were sandwiching the cardboard insert with those odd elastic strips with a little metal toggle.

The Icon on the back of the hand is off-center, which would lead me to believe they're either fake or factory seconds.

I can take a look at the tag in mine tonight, but I cut the white tag out and I don't recall if I removed all of them. I just took some pics to compare for another member with a fake set, though his were closer to your known fake pair. These should get you started.

IMG_0920.jpg

IMG_0919.jpg

IMG_0918.jpg

IMG_0917.jpg

IMG_0916.jpg

IMG_0914.jpg
 
Thanks for your input Rustpot. A few points:

Good eye with the offset O I never noticed. Although I have seen some legit ones recently which seem to have an offset O as well. Granted they were the newer ones with the matte knuckle.

The Pittard Leather which is what made me sway toward genuine. The knuckles are also double stitched as well. If they are counterfeit they are very very good. The fake palms are utter poo, and mine smell like real leather.

As for the packaging, I have seen this type of packaging before, I think the SI gloves has been the product that Oakley has changed the most over the years.

... Which is why this is so difficult, because there are so many variations :)
 
your mystery pair looks exactly like a pair I purchased new from an O-store late last year (closeout "2011" version). Fingertips, palms, tags, offcenter "O", and packaging all the same. My packaging card does spell 'synthetics' correctly though :)
 
Took a better look at mine, turns out I did forget to trim out the tags.

The pair on the USSI website show the tan gloves with grain leather on the back of the hand, the black, foliage, and coyote show pittard all over.

Though mine do have the logo more or less centered in the circular feature on the back of the hand, it doesn't sit right in the center of the hand itself.

I'd say legit, possibly seconds, or like you said they're pretty damn good fakes. Where'd you get them from, I could use a second set :biggrin1:

IMG_0933.jpg

IMG_0934.jpg

IMG_0935.jpg
 

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