Taobao/weidan sellers have no chill when it comes to naming their stores. Strangest one I've bought something from was called "The birthplace of the tide brand".
I say this about reps: they are like video game piracy. You do it when you are resourceless, and want to try out certain fashions. But you eventually grow out of it to support the devs. I hardly buy reps now, but I got introduced to fashion thanks to the lower barrier to entry to reps. Now I have a specific taste set and spend the money on authentic especially when they’re on sale (SSENSE sales get me weak). Reps got me to spend more money on actual legit pieces than I ever anticipated.
Much of the quality reps subreddit is full people who also "support the devs" the spend just much an authentic items as they do replicas. Often times its them spending on replicas that they can't find authentically, hard to source, out of print etc.
@@ayumelovethat’s why I think it’s alright to buy reps of Rick Owens Dunks, similar to how it’s fine to pirate say old Fire Emblem games. You can’t purchase them directly without used market’s inflated price
@@78pt23 this is true, but most of the time they have flaws and are dirty/very worn. At that point the reps win because they are brand new and cheaper or close to the used price.
I think fakes and originals fundamentally occupy different fashion spaces. Most people buy by feel, they don't analyze the structure or craftsmanship, one moment something is great, the other they find out its fake and suddenly the magic is lost. People who buy fakes are in general more cynical and watch their bottom line, they want to maximize bang for buck. I think people have this fallacy in mind, that every pirated movie, every counterfeit shoe or garment is a loss for the maker of the original, because each one of those items represents one that is not bought from the original retailer. I think it's not true, at least not in the high fashion space. A lot of those brands purposefully don't want most people to buy their stuff and make it "elite", like LV burnning their unsold goods, so they don't get to the outlets. Another question is "stealing design". When is stealing designs justified and when it's not? Some fashion enthusiasts will scoff at cheaper replica goods, while simultainously praising designers like Margiela, who outright admit to just copying designs they saw somewhere else. Why a vietnam or chinese manufacturer copying Guidi or LV or any other brand is seen as scroungy, while we praise Maison Margiela for having a whole Replica line, where it's just stolen designs? If anything, the scrutiny should be inverted, why are we not angry at Margiela for popularizing GATs, when the real designer is somewhere out there and probably never reached even 1/100th of money and recognition Martin did. Yet another thing is tailoring and shoemaking traditionally used to be based on stolen and inspired designs. We have lots of traditional designs like mens button up shirt, derby shoes, oxfords, balmorals, chelsea boots, pleated skirt, kilt etc. which might not even have a single originator and were just people looking up each other's designs and slowly and incrementally evolving them or outright copying them. My parents lived in soviet era Poland and told me about time when mass produced clothing wasn't that easily available, a common thing was to bring pictures of clothes and outfits, often worn by celebrities of the time, to your local tailor and just saying "I want what they have".
@@burgersuperking Yes, you are right, he did that by just admiting he found something cool and copied it, in some cases slightly tweaked. The fact that he did it in an artistic and conceptual context doesn't change the fact he did it and made quite a lot of profit on it too. Artists, their art and performances, aren't exempt from judgement.
I appreciate that you were thoughtful and introspective, I think it’s interesting that there’s people in the comments already talking about buying and “1:1”, this discussion is probably lost on them, I would personally not buy something in the guise of it being made solely to be identical to something else, just doesn’t feel right to do, but as long as they’re not claiming to be Guidis I can see why people would buy them, buying boots like this is tough and it’s hard to find them for men at any price (specifically in Australia where I live)
Are we paying for the design, quality, feeling, art, etc… I was looking into German Army Trainers. You can by authentic shoes used by the military, Addias BW Army , MM Replicas and a ton of great options in mid tier… makes me think of your intellectual properties point and I think about what Virgil said about art and taking something and creating something new… all of the rambling just to say what are we protecting when it comes to “reps” and what are we trying to accomplish when it comes to buying and using “reps”. From GATs , Chelsea boots , Bapsta/Air Force 1s etc… do Guidi reps feel any different when art and commodity consumption is designed for constant borrowing and recycling?
Having owned brands like bottega, Gucci, Dior, and then experiencing the quality of guidi, it becomes hard to justify any other derby/boot. And now having felt the real thing, I don’t think I could get behind reps personally. Please continue to make content. And I hope you get your guidis someday doggy.
I know stealing the idea is unethical, but I also understand that the person that handmade those shoes clearly has a skill. I'd like to know how much it affects his orders. If he is not able to live without doing this, then I think that would affect my opinion on these specific shoes. Saying that, any /factory/ making fakes; 100% unethical, especially if they're ripping off small businesses. To me, it's a grey area, especially with the rising size of fashion conglomerates and the falling quality of designer goods these days
I think the main idea is whether you prefer the brand or the product, when I used to buy guidi stuff I did because I liked the vibe of old school small scale local Italian production in addition to liking the product itself, but if you don’t care about that shit then buy reps.
It's nice to see fashion related content that isn't _Wear This/Not That_ or _Ten Best XYZ to Wear This Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter!_ _Brave New Wear_ and _This Is Antwon_ produce some of my favorite fashion content despite me not liking almost anything they personally wear.
My only problem, is that seeing reps being made and bought, shits me because what if it was my work being ripped off. I have bought reps long ago, many don't hold the same quality and are kind of like buying the dirt cheap and horrid home brand frozen pizza instead waiting to have the time and money to go out and have a wood fire pizza at a restaurant. Leaving me wanting more and wishing i hadn't half arsed it. Like buying anything tech related when people say buy nice or buy twice (also known as buy once cry once). Out of respect for the designers and the longer lasting value and quality of the real thing, I prefer to go down that route. I understand that most people just want to try and test things out first, but man it is so much sweeter when you can get the real thing. Be resourceful and be patient. Anyway, enough of my waffling, still loved the video and keen for more.
Guidi won't go out of business if people start buying reps. They are after all a tannery & they sell A LOT to other high end brands. IMHO you should not be promoting these fake sellers, since they are actively trying to pass these on as actual guidis. If they had marketed them as a guidi "style" then it would be different. But, at the end of the day, these bootleg makers won't make that much of a difference, as their versions don't look convincing if you've owned a pair of real guidis.
I found a pair of Guidi boots at Nordstrom Rack! They were on clearance for $56. I wasn't familiar with the brand but I could tell they were excellent quality. I almost passed out when I looked them up.
guidis white boots are white tanned leather, which is a special tanning process, as opposed to painted white like yours and any low quality replica would be, thats why the leather is stiffer and doesn't stack right, guidi leahter is super oily and has no paint
I think overall, why should the little man have to be a champion for these extremely wealthy heritage brands that obviously do not care to expand their offering to fit multiple price points? Out of reverence? Should we pray to LVMH? The everyday middle class consumer spends an entire paycheck on one product and the brand CEOs laugh all the way to the bank. If your design can be imitated so easily, make it more difficult. Ultimately, what some people want to avoid is the cognitive dissonance of realizing their style is more tied to logos than an actual aesthetic. Achieving that aesthetic is the goal, not amassing spending power.
As i get older clothing have just become a way to achieve a silhouette that i like. Like brand meaning or brand heritage u can say has no meaning to me anymore. But on aside thats not the case for everything in my life,just certain things,nahmsayin
To achieve silhouettes you need fabric to sit right. For me quality fabric influences silhouette so much. You can wear a polyester pair of pants and look to the same as a high quality wool that drapes and flows better
I dont think theres anything wrong with that, I think in the US one of the best quality boots around $150 is say a doc marten. And while I love docs and think they're worth the price, the boot I DID buy is way superior in terms of construction. I think the other simple answer is the design isn't something you can find for this price.
I have a pair of those in black from earthquake. They really are exceptionally good quality all branding aside. My ONLY real complaint is the toebox tends to turn upwards over time from driving, I have no idea if this is the case with retail but it's something I noticed over many hours of wear and driving
I have been really impressed by solos shoes from what I have seen on Instagram, I can tell they care about quality it's a shame they don't make their own styles. On the other hand I hate " the Wietnam ones" I don't own Guidis nor have I seen a lot in person, but I can tell the shape is just weird
In a philosophical sense, what is the difference between wearing a 1:1 Replica and wearing _an_ shoe that is made to ape this style? Aside from the logo, what value is there in a brand? What cache does it give? To me, no value added. I personally do not GAF who makes my clothing, I want something that is quality and within my budget. I'll pay for Made in the USA but I'm not advertising it on my sleeve. I personally find logos and branding of any kind of be disgusting, gauche, tacky, distasteful and I avoid it on all my clothing, even going as far as to de-badge clothing and remove patches. In more classic menswear nobody is reee'ing about Suit Supply "ripping off" the captoe oxford from Allen Edmonds or whatever. It's understood that these are all just silhouettes and styles that exist in the ether and brands make an version of them for their customers. Nobody "owns" the 3-roll-2 suit jacket. Nobody owns penny loafers. Will we see a day where Guido Boots join the pantheon of classic shoes and versions can be found from PayLess to Prada?
As someone who’s always been against reps ethically, I gotta say these are tempting. With clothing whenever I found a garment out of my price range it was easy to find an alternative with that same ethos. What it was inspired by. Or with enough patience something would pop up on the second hand market for a steal. Still I was never able to get these specific boots out of my mind. Especially with the sizing, I would die spending that much money on a boot and them fitting improperly.
dont allow these outspoken nerds guilt trip you into feeling trepidation over buying reps. the rep industry simply does not effect the original designers, there really is no way around it - the buyers of 'real' retail are a totally different demographic, who exist despite the sale of reps and will continue to do so. if anything, reps draw attention to the original brands and give free advertising to the younger rep-buying audience, who should they one day make enough money to buy retail might well do. the only reason these nerds get mad and try to guilt trip you and stretch reasonable talking points well beyond their limit (usually in a very emotional and angry way and always under the cover of 'ethics') is because they feel gutted to have spent so much on something that cannot be differentiated from the reps, and more significantly because they cannot ultimately afford them... if they do feel gutted, they really shouldnt be buying retail. retail is for people for who'm a few grand on a shopping spree should mean nothing, not anxiety that you cant cover your rent this month.
Exactly. It's like people tripping about kids in pakistan pirating games. Bruhh these kids never had the money to buy authentic games anyway so the developers aren't losing out any money.
This video is super helpful, I would proudly wear replicas that had this much care and thought put into them, they look like some of the nicest boots I've ever seen. Also, could you please let me know what black long coat you're wearing later in this video? I am struggling to find one quite like that
Its really frustrating to me that people say they cannot find affordable guidis and they have to find fakes. I get it, it's time consuming. I get it, you have large feet. I get it, you're a big baby. But holy shit, it's not that hard. I'm so spoiled by steals that I cannot fathom paying more than $400 for my 788z's and sub $300 my derbies (forgot model number). I got these prices from RETAILERS, not secondhand! There's no excuse to buy reps when you can find guidis this cheap.
Maybe like relax cus at the end of the day you shouldn’t let other people bother you so much when what they’re doing has nothing to do with you or your life
How intellectually lazy is it to respond to a valid point about the availability of the more desirable genuine article for prices lower than a replica with what amounts to "EaCH tO tHeiR OWn" and ""LivE anD LeT LiVe" LMAO like you're not even engaging with the content, intent or anything this is simply a dismissal of what should be part of a valid discourse on this topic. There ARE aftermarket steals. Figure it out
@grayrawrs everyday I wake up and yell at my phone when I see rep buyers. Nothing makes me angrier. I'm still reeling from this mornings yelling session.
I appreciate the effort to investigate the claims of the tiktokkers, as a preface to this whole thing. It doesn't seem to go far enough though. First of all, "More realistically 8/10 the quality for 1/4 the price" - how did you make this assessment of quality of the boot? "Have and continue to trick actual guidi owners": sample size n=1 anecdotally sure? Appreciate the "it's for you to decide" but you offer a slant in your conclusions that supports making the conclusion that the reps are decent and actually per your comments, as good as if not better. Quality reps are good for finding replicas but as far as fidelity goes they are poor across the board besides solo, and solo construction wise is close but materials wise is still a decent margin off which your mileage may vary with, whether you care solely about the look or the process. No replica is even close to 1:1. You highlight eq/solo in a way that is very one-sided, did you investigate any drawbacks beyond solo's price? Your pair is of extremely poor fidelity compared to the genuine article from even the few listed photos on your video. It's very identifiable to me, but the welt stitch channel is quite identifiable even if you asked someone uninitiated who weren't primed on what was authentic and what was replica, the bare minimum would be that they can identify it as different looking without trouble. You can run this test yourself perhaps. Third rate replica at best and I can send you a post from qualityreps itself regarding what a second rate rep looks like. There is also no depth to the discussion of quality or processes so no one would come away understanding the distinctions between vegetable tanned, chrome tanned, drum object dyeing for the tonal end product versus conventional dye processes, the time and effort and differences in characteristics of each end product and even discussion of perhaps how one might not be so far off from the other? On a video about a brand where the most significant selling point is materials quality and processes?? Idk The build quality is whatever it's more of a cool fact that they're still an artisanally crafted product, takes like two hours to put a guidi together. The build quality of reps is actually more uniform and machined. Complete loss of the craft and heritage if you care about that though. Seems like an intellectually lazy line of inquiry, you've found that there are leading replica manufacturers with reputations for quality, purchased an aftermarket replica which looks like quite a poor example even if these factories, and made multiple anecdotal (sample size n=1 method: I asked, source: trustmebro) claims on relative quality, build quality etc. if the burden of proof is squarely on you to back your own claims in an environment where you could dissect a genuine guidi and your replica like Rose Anvil dismantling common projects reputation, do you think your claims would stand? There's a reason Rose Anvil's methods are so compelling and actually undermined common projects marketability, you could see with your own two eyes the disparity between the claims and the reality of things, unfiltered through a personal interpretation if you just muted his audio. But he also has technical expertise to back it. And verbatim "and what looks like...guidis. are these fooling anyone? I don't think it's relevant, these are really nice boots...150, even for 400 dollars, this is a very good deal. Those boots feel very well made, they are robust, they are heavy, the uppers feel very high quality." Judgments of quality are extremely arbitrary if you're appraising what is undeniably a product that aims to be as close to another product as possible. This gives it a context, a bar to strive for and hopefully meet, it cannot exist in a vacuum. You do not frame this as "worth 400 to ME" or "very high quality for what I've experienced" etc to indicate that this is a personal appraisal rather than an informed, objective appraisal. If you aren't a cobbler, leather worker, tanner, some kind of frequent guidi handler, regular appraiser, frequent viewer of replicas etc I don't necessarily trust your opinion, if it is genuinely unbacked. I assert that it's unfounded because you've provided no evidence here that it is founded on any objective demonstrable empirical measure. I dearly hope I'm wrong and would be overjoyed to be rebuffed on that. Your assertion that they are a very good deal as a value proposition that you're disseminating to potentially a mass audience with the methods of examination you've put on show here are tantamount to advertising. The fact that your conclusions at the end involve the encouragement of your audience to make their own mind up acknowledges nothing of the fact that you have provided only evidence to assert that the quality replicas are of good quality and would "fool a guidi owner". I should add that authenticity checks on the street are extremely difficult, but close examination of any single clearly lit photo of about 90% of the replicas on market to someone who has paid much attention would not be a special challenge. The strength of evidence in your anecdotes even if we take the veracity at face value is simply not airtight enough to be making the claims that you're making with the confidence that you're making them with. It's also interesting that this entire video seems to be made without acknowledging that there are multiple informative English language guidi communities beyond those run by guidi themselves, there's a guidi subreddit and discord where people can quite easily be consulted for more in depth opinion. If I want to charitably interpret your messaging regarding their value and quality as being a personal appraisal with the omission of explicitly being personal, I would still have to ask how you come to assigning dollar value to a personal appraisal of quality and how that would be justified. Overall your history and process rundown is good, your inquiry is middling, your methods are seemingly poor from what's presented, and your conclusions are to me personally, baffling. At the end of the day my angle is financial responsibility and consuming within your means trumps fashion every time so I'm not even swinging here from a guidi authentic-only hardliner perspective, I just really don't know how you make the claims you make. I also don't know what you would summarize your ideal take-home message for this piece of content as, but I feel strongly that you're increasing the desirability and accessibility of inauthentic products that take advantage of intellectual property, not so far removed from the tiktoks you're looking into. Which is not my business nor my concern, I genuinely only care about the methods by which you reached this particular presentation of the replica market. Do push back because obviously I've written this with only the benefit of your video as source and not the entirety of your plan or intentions or what may have been included or cut for the sake of TH-cam marketability, feasibilities, practicality etc, all I can see is the end product, which I do not find compelling.
I think your assessment here is actually more informed by your bias than you realize. I don't think you're wrong, but to me the last few minutes of the video were more negative towards reps than positive. I also think you're expecting more than is reasonable from a "big tent" fashion channel like this - what Christian's doing here isn't aimed at someone with your level of interest in materials, craft, etc. and I think it would be unfair for you to expect that. What he's done is identified something that is clearly resonating with a large subset of people, and investigating both the positives and negatives of that.
@@LOWluxuryyou're right, it is informed by my bias, this is my view of it and the extent of that view. I'm glad you actually read my comment and engaged with what I said. I'll concede the end was fairly negative, my feeling is the overall messaging is net positive and it functionally would funnel those seriously interested parties towards the big rep vendors. I don't think expecting a high level of rigor from a creator is unreasonable, and I don't think the size or scope of their channel really determines whether they can pump out a thorough investigation or not. I agree with what you say that he's doing with this video, and I still don't think it meets all the marks it should to be considered thorough and compelling. The larger the group of people you're speaking to, the more thorough I'd hope one would want to be. Is there any clean clear justification for why the things I've pointed out as glaring omissions are omitted? I'm not sure still, this video raises as many questions as the answers it provides
@@LOWluxury Guidi is aimed for those that care about materials to that high of an extent. I actually think he's right, specially when talking about Christian's method for acknowledging quality aka n=1 trustmebro i fooled him, and us not knowing where these claims are coming from. 10/10 great review
To me, I think what is cool about certain brands is their attention to sustainable practices. To me, Guidi is one of those brands. I can't afford a pair, and probably never will. But reps don't have to follow sustainable and ethical practices, unlike the real brands. It would be great if we could all afford those special pieces, but i don't think reps is the answer. Also what would be the fun in that. The fun is in hunting the thing you really want for a price you can afford. Buying reps is like a form of fast fashion. If you really like something but aren't willing to spend the money, than it wasn't meant to be.
Ghost emperor is the plug.I can tell you, they are well-made shoes in isolation but they are not guidi's.The stack is not great and the horse leather is probably full grain cow hide (which is decent) but they are not 1:1.
as someone whos worked in the industry and with manufacturers some of these manufactures have worked with these luxury brands the 30% rule so im not surprised that these reps are same quality or even better there basically the same
Sneaker reps and wristwatch reps have opened a lot of people's eyes to the level of price gouging going on within many industries/brands. Subreddits keep lists of "Not Worth Buying in Gen" because the fakes match the quality so closely it doesn't make sense to spend 10-20x more dollars for a 5% increase in "niceness."
@@Mister_Phafanapolisto piggyback your comment, even like the handbags of Chanel, the retail quality has significantly gone down. It’s all reported from retail buyers as well as rep buyers. And like Christian mentioned in his video, often consumers buy both retail and reps. So in this case, is paying for retail Chanel still worth it?
I’m depressed thinking about the super messed up way that the horse died for those Chinese Guidis. I might be wrong and maybe they source the hide from the same place but I don’t think that’s the case.
You’re an L fam I could assume all your clothes is replica as well😅 shii has no value why do you think resellers spend 10’s of thousands on shoes? They hold value bro
Work even during an earthquake is wild 😂
Taobao/weidan sellers have no chill when it comes to naming their stores. Strangest one I've bought something from was called "The birthplace of the tide brand".
send them our thoughts and prayers
I say this about reps: they are like video game piracy. You do it when you are resourceless, and want to try out certain fashions. But you eventually grow out of it to support the devs.
I hardly buy reps now, but I got introduced to fashion thanks to the lower barrier to entry to reps. Now I have a specific taste set and spend the money on authentic especially when they’re on sale (SSENSE sales get me weak). Reps got me to spend more money on actual legit pieces than I ever anticipated.
likely you can spend the same amount of money on authentic secondhand designer that you would spend on replicas
Much of the quality reps subreddit is full people who also "support the devs" the spend just much an authentic items as they do replicas. Often times its them spending on replicas that they can't find authentically, hard to source, out of print etc.
@@ayumelovethat’s why I think it’s alright to buy reps of Rick Owens Dunks, similar to how it’s fine to pirate say old Fire Emblem games. You can’t purchase them directly without used market’s inflated price
fuck the devs i aint payin more if i dont have to
@@78pt23 this is true, but most of the time they have flaws and are dirty/very worn. At that point the reps win because they are brand new and cheaper or close to the used price.
I think fakes and originals fundamentally occupy different fashion spaces. Most people buy by feel, they don't analyze the structure or craftsmanship, one moment something is great, the other they find out its fake and suddenly the magic is lost. People who buy fakes are in general more cynical and watch their bottom line, they want to maximize bang for buck.
I think people have this fallacy in mind, that every pirated movie, every counterfeit shoe or garment is a loss for the maker of the original, because each one of those items represents one that is not bought from the original retailer. I think it's not true, at least not in the high fashion space. A lot of those brands purposefully don't want most people to buy their stuff and make it "elite", like LV burnning their unsold goods, so they don't get to the outlets.
Another question is "stealing design". When is stealing designs justified and when it's not? Some fashion enthusiasts will scoff at cheaper replica goods, while simultainously praising designers like Margiela, who outright admit to just copying designs they saw somewhere else. Why a vietnam or chinese manufacturer copying Guidi or LV or any other brand is seen as scroungy, while we praise Maison Margiela for having a whole Replica line, where it's just stolen designs? If anything, the scrutiny should be inverted, why are we not angry at Margiela for popularizing GATs, when the real designer is somewhere out there and probably never reached even 1/100th of money and recognition Martin did.
Yet another thing is tailoring and shoemaking traditionally used to be based on stolen and inspired designs. We have lots of traditional designs like mens button up shirt, derby shoes, oxfords, balmorals, chelsea boots, pleated skirt, kilt etc. which might not even have a single originator and were just people looking up each other's designs and slowly and incrementally evolving them or outright copying them. My parents lived in soviet era Poland and told me about time when mass produced clothing wasn't that easily available, a common thing was to bring pictures of clothes and outfits, often worn by celebrities of the time, to your local tailor and just saying "I want what they have".
@@burgersuperking Yes, you are right, he did that by just admiting he found something cool and copied it, in some cases slightly tweaked. The fact that he did it in an artistic and conceptual context doesn't change the fact he did it and made quite a lot of profit on it too. Artists, their art and performances, aren't exempt from judgement.
I appreciate that you were thoughtful and introspective, I think it’s interesting that there’s people in the comments already talking about buying and “1:1”, this discussion is probably lost on them, I would personally not buy something in the guise of it being made solely to be identical to something else, just doesn’t feel right to do, but as long as they’re not claiming to be Guidis I can see why people would buy them, buying boots like this is tough and it’s hard to find them for men at any price (specifically in Australia where I live)
Are we paying for the design, quality, feeling, art, etc… I was looking into German Army Trainers. You can by authentic shoes used by the military, Addias BW Army , MM Replicas and a ton of great options in mid tier… makes me think of your intellectual properties point and I think about what Virgil said about art and taking something and creating something new… all of the rambling just to say what are we protecting when it comes to “reps” and what are we trying to accomplish when it comes to buying and using “reps”.
From GATs , Chelsea boots , Bapsta/Air Force 1s etc… do Guidi reps feel any different when art and commodity consumption is designed for constant borrowing and recycling?
Having owned brands like bottega, Gucci, Dior, and then experiencing the quality of guidi, it becomes hard to justify any other derby/boot. And now having felt the real thing, I don’t think I could get behind reps personally. Please continue to make content. And I hope you get your guidis someday doggy.
another heater from the king
I gave up TH-cam for lent so I was excited to see all the content you posted. Love the channel👍
Been waiting for this vid for awhile¡ ever since you spoke to the man about his shop in Mexico
What man in Mexico?
I know stealing the idea is unethical, but I also understand that the person that handmade those shoes clearly has a skill. I'd like to know how much it affects his orders. If he is not able to live without doing this, then I think that would affect my opinion on these specific shoes. Saying that, any /factory/ making fakes; 100% unethical, especially if they're ripping off small businesses. To me, it's a grey area, especially with the rising size of fashion conglomerates and the falling quality of designer goods these days
I think the main idea is whether you prefer the brand or the product, when I used to buy guidi stuff I did because I liked the vibe of old school small scale local Italian production in addition to liking the product itself, but if you don’t care about that shit then buy reps.
rusty cage with a lil bit of swag strikes again
Screw protecting the big brands, only defend the small brands until they become big.
I appreciate you making videos again. I can't seem to find anyone else with good taste on TH-cam.
It's nice to see fashion related content that isn't _Wear This/Not That_ or _Ten Best XYZ to Wear This Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter!_
_Brave New Wear_ and _This Is Antwon_ produce some of my favorite fashion content despite me not liking almost anything they personally wear.
My only problem, is that seeing reps being made and bought, shits me because what if it was my work being ripped off.
I have bought reps long ago, many don't hold the same quality and are kind of like buying the dirt cheap and horrid home brand frozen pizza instead waiting to have the time and money to go out and have a wood fire pizza at a restaurant. Leaving me wanting more and wishing i hadn't half arsed it. Like buying anything tech related when people say buy nice or buy twice (also known as buy once cry once).
Out of respect for the designers and the longer lasting value and quality of the real thing, I prefer to go down that route.
I understand that most people just want to try and test things out first, but man it is so much sweeter when you can get the real thing. Be resourceful and be patient.
Anyway, enough of my waffling, still loved the video and keen for more.
Feel a guidi vs an actual handwelted leather shoe and it's like comparing a Ferrari to an F1 car
Guidi won't go out of business if people start buying reps.
They are after all a tannery & they sell A LOT to other high end brands.
IMHO you should not be promoting these fake sellers, since they are actively trying to pass these on as actual guidis. If they had marketed them as a guidi "style" then it would be different.
But, at the end of the day, these bootleg makers won't make that much of a difference, as their versions don't look convincing if you've owned a pair of real guidis.
Dude drop the haircare routine!
tbh it took me a while to figure out how to style my hair and frankly I'm usually frustrated at it most of the time
@@BraveNewWear man I think that’s all of us, I’ve been through everything from Matte paste to sea salt spray. Reverting to buzzcut is tempting.
I buy what looks good and strong…..brand doesn’t mean jack
I found a pair of Guidi boots at Nordstrom Rack! They were on clearance for $56. I wasn't familiar with the brand but I could tell they were excellent quality. I almost passed out when I looked them up.
christian stole my guidis he's holding them hostage pls help
King is back
Dawg, I ain't gonna lie, I thought Rusty Cage became a fashion channel. Subbed.
I saw the reels and was like hmmm bc they looked good
Super Castlevania supremacy!!
one of my favorite games growing up
Cowboy crust is one of my favourite tiktokers, amazing videos and inspired my style greatly
guidis white boots are white tanned leather, which is a special tanning process, as opposed to painted white like yours and any low quality replica would be, thats why the leather is stiffer and doesn't stack right, guidi leahter is super oily and has no paint
These Guidis boots looks awesome esp the 986. I want a pair
I think overall, why should the little man have to be a champion for these extremely wealthy heritage brands that obviously do not care to expand their offering to fit multiple price points? Out of reverence? Should we pray to LVMH? The everyday middle class consumer spends an entire paycheck on one product and the brand CEOs laugh all the way to the bank. If your design can be imitated so easily, make it more difficult. Ultimately, what some people want to avoid is the cognitive dissonance of realizing their style is more tied to logos than an actual aesthetic. Achieving that aesthetic is the goal, not amassing spending power.
Thanks bro, you locked the damn sub
As i get older clothing have just become a way to achieve a silhouette that i like. Like brand meaning or brand heritage u can say has no meaning to me anymore. But on aside thats not the case for everything in my life,just certain things,nahmsayin
To achieve silhouettes you need fabric to sit right. For me quality fabric influences silhouette so much. You can wear a polyester pair of pants and look to the same as a high quality wool that drapes and flows better
Considering buying reps of the women’s pares because they don’t make them in my size
What I will say is why not buy a different boot around the price you bought?
I dont think theres anything wrong with that, I think in the US one of the best quality boots around $150 is say a doc marten. And while I love docs and think they're worth the price, the boot I DID buy is way superior in terms of construction. I think the other simple answer is the design isn't something you can find for this price.
Damn you and Rusty Cage really look alike🤗
come back king
I have a pair of those in black from earthquake. They really are exceptionally good quality all branding aside. My ONLY real complaint is the toebox tends to turn upwards over time from driving, I have no idea if this is the case with retail but it's something I noticed over many hours of wear and driving
The calf leather stacks more because it’s 2-3 times thinner than the horse leather
guidi has models made of calfskin too it's not like they strictly only use horse.
I have been really impressed by solos shoes from what I have seen on Instagram, I can tell they care about quality it's a shame they don't make their own styles. On the other hand I hate " the Wietnam ones" I don't own Guidis nor have I seen a lot in person, but I can tell the shape is just weird
Seems obvious guidi is using Cordovan shell, not just any horse leather.
In a philosophical sense, what is the difference between wearing a 1:1 Replica and wearing _an_ shoe that is made to ape this style? Aside from the logo, what value is there in a brand? What cache does it give? To me, no value added. I personally do not GAF who makes my clothing, I want something that is quality and within my budget. I'll pay for Made in the USA but I'm not advertising it on my sleeve. I personally find logos and branding of any kind of be disgusting, gauche, tacky, distasteful and I avoid it on all my clothing, even going as far as to de-badge clothing and remove patches.
In more classic menswear nobody is reee'ing about Suit Supply "ripping off" the captoe oxford from Allen Edmonds or whatever. It's understood that these are all just silhouettes and styles that exist in the ether and brands make an version of them for their customers. Nobody "owns" the 3-roll-2 suit jacket. Nobody owns penny loafers. Will we see a day where Guido Boots join the pantheon of classic shoes and versions can be found from PayLess to Prada?
1:45 i see the gains
Awesome video!!!!
As someone who’s always been against reps ethically, I gotta say these are tempting. With clothing whenever I found a garment out of my price range it was easy to find an alternative with that same ethos. What it was inspired by. Or with enough patience something would pop up on the second hand market for a steal. Still I was never able to get these specific boots out of my mind. Especially with the sizing, I would die spending that much money on a boot and them fitting improperly.
Reps baby
love your haistyle. which hair product do you use to style them?
come back to youtube pls!!
very dope vid
dont allow these outspoken nerds guilt trip you into feeling trepidation over buying reps. the rep industry simply does not effect the original designers, there really is no way around it - the buyers of 'real' retail are a totally different demographic, who exist despite the sale of reps and will continue to do so. if anything, reps draw attention to the original brands and give free advertising to the younger rep-buying audience, who should they one day make enough money to buy retail might well do. the only reason these nerds get mad and try to guilt trip you and stretch reasonable talking points well beyond their limit (usually in a very emotional and angry way and always under the cover of 'ethics') is because they feel gutted to have spent so much on something that cannot be differentiated from the reps, and more significantly because they cannot ultimately afford them... if they do feel gutted, they really shouldnt be buying retail. retail is for people for who'm a few grand on a shopping spree should mean nothing, not anxiety that you cant cover your rent this month.
Exactly. It's like people tripping about kids in pakistan pirating games. Bruhh these kids never had the money to buy authentic games anyway so the developers aren't losing out any money.
How was sizing on this pair? did you size down?
What hair product do you use?
This video is super helpful, I would proudly wear replicas that had this much care and thought put into them, they look like some of the nicest boots I've ever seen.
Also, could you please let me know what black long coat you're wearing later in this video? I am struggling to find one quite like that
whats the subreddit for buying and selling reps?
r / quality reps, I should probably share this video there
@@BraveNewWear died almost immediately after this comment lol
Ok now I need reebok alien stomper replicas
SoloHandMadeShoes is my goat ❤
Fuck it. They're just boots. It's not like you're wearing an off-white jordan fake where it's blatantly a fake.
Its really frustrating to me that people say they cannot find affordable guidis and they have to find fakes. I get it, it's time consuming. I get it, you have large feet. I get it, you're a big baby. But holy shit, it's not that hard. I'm so spoiled by steals that I cannot fathom paying more than $400 for my 788z's and sub $300 my derbies (forgot model number). I got these prices from RETAILERS, not secondhand! There's no excuse to buy reps when you can find guidis this cheap.
Maybe like relax cus at the end of the day you shouldn’t let other people bother you so much when what they’re doing has nothing to do with you or your life
How intellectually lazy is it to respond to a valid point about the availability of the more desirable genuine article for prices lower than a replica with what amounts to "EaCH tO tHeiR OWn" and ""LivE anD LeT LiVe" LMAO like you're not even engaging with the content, intent or anything this is simply a dismissal of what should be part of a valid discourse on this topic. There ARE aftermarket steals. Figure it out
@grayrawrs everyday I wake up and yell at my phone when I see rep buyers. Nothing makes me angrier. I'm still reeling from this mornings yelling session.
Damn, which retailers do you find prices like that from?
@VuNguyen-fv5jl first one was Nordstrom, second was The Archive SF. But seriously you have to look everywhere during sale times.
rly wanted the tornados from solo, but it came out to 600 without shipping XD
I appreciate the effort to investigate the claims of the tiktokkers, as a preface to this whole thing. It doesn't seem to go far enough though.
First of all,
"More realistically 8/10 the quality for 1/4 the price" - how did you make this assessment of quality of the boot?
"Have and continue to trick actual guidi owners": sample size n=1 anecdotally sure?
Appreciate the "it's for you to decide" but you offer a slant in your conclusions that supports making the conclusion that the reps are decent and actually per your comments, as good as if not better.
Quality reps are good for finding replicas but as far as fidelity goes they are poor across the board besides solo, and solo construction wise is close but materials wise is still a decent margin off which your mileage may vary with, whether you care solely about the look or the process. No replica is even close to 1:1.
You highlight eq/solo in a way that is very one-sided, did you investigate any drawbacks beyond solo's price?
Your pair is of extremely poor fidelity compared to the genuine article from even the few listed photos on your video. It's very identifiable to me, but the welt stitch channel is quite identifiable even if you asked someone uninitiated who weren't primed on what was authentic and what was replica, the bare minimum would be that they can identify it as different looking without trouble. You can run this test yourself perhaps. Third rate replica at best and I can send you a post from qualityreps itself regarding what a second rate rep looks like.
There is also no depth to the discussion of quality or processes so no one would come away understanding the distinctions between vegetable tanned, chrome tanned, drum object dyeing for the tonal end product versus conventional dye processes, the time and effort and differences in characteristics of each end product and even discussion of perhaps how one might not be so far off from the other? On a video about a brand where the most significant selling point is materials quality and processes?? Idk
The build quality is whatever it's more of a cool fact that they're still an artisanally crafted product, takes like two hours to put a guidi together. The build quality of reps is actually more uniform and machined. Complete loss of the craft and heritage if you care about that though.
Seems like an intellectually lazy line of inquiry, you've found that there are leading replica manufacturers with reputations for quality, purchased an aftermarket replica which looks like quite a poor example even if these factories, and made multiple anecdotal (sample size n=1 method: I asked, source: trustmebro) claims on relative quality, build quality etc. if the burden of proof is squarely on you to back your own claims in an environment where you could dissect a genuine guidi and your replica like Rose Anvil dismantling common projects reputation, do you think your claims would stand? There's a reason Rose Anvil's methods are so compelling and actually undermined common projects marketability, you could see with your own two eyes the disparity between the claims and the reality of things, unfiltered through a personal interpretation if you just muted his audio. But he also has technical expertise to back it.
And verbatim "and what looks like...guidis. are these fooling anyone? I don't think it's relevant, these are really nice boots...150, even for 400 dollars, this is a very good deal. Those boots feel very well made, they are robust, they are heavy, the uppers feel very high quality."
Judgments of quality are extremely arbitrary if you're appraising what is undeniably a product that aims to be as close to another product as possible. This gives it a context, a bar to strive for and hopefully meet, it cannot exist in a vacuum. You do not frame this as "worth 400 to ME" or "very high quality for what I've experienced" etc to indicate that this is a personal appraisal rather than an informed, objective appraisal. If you aren't a cobbler, leather worker, tanner, some kind of frequent guidi handler, regular appraiser, frequent viewer of replicas etc I don't necessarily trust your opinion, if it is genuinely unbacked. I assert that it's unfounded because you've provided no evidence here that it is founded on any objective demonstrable empirical measure. I dearly hope I'm wrong and would be overjoyed to be rebuffed on that.
Your assertion that they are a very good deal as a value proposition that you're disseminating to potentially a mass audience with the methods of examination you've put on show here are tantamount to advertising. The fact that your conclusions at the end involve the encouragement of your audience to make their own mind up acknowledges nothing of the fact that you have provided only evidence to assert that the quality replicas are of good quality and would "fool a guidi owner".
I should add that authenticity checks on the street are extremely difficult, but close examination of any single clearly lit photo of about 90% of the replicas on market to someone who has paid much attention would not be a special challenge. The strength of evidence in your anecdotes even if we take the veracity at face value is simply not airtight enough to be making the claims that you're making with the confidence that you're making them with.
It's also interesting that this entire video seems to be made without acknowledging that there are multiple informative English language guidi communities beyond those run by guidi themselves, there's a guidi subreddit and discord where people can quite easily be consulted for more in depth opinion.
If I want to charitably interpret your messaging regarding their value and quality as being a personal appraisal with the omission of explicitly being personal, I would still have to ask how you come to assigning dollar value to a personal appraisal of quality and how that would be justified.
Overall your history and process rundown is good, your inquiry is middling, your methods are seemingly poor from what's presented, and your conclusions are to me personally, baffling. At the end of the day my angle is financial responsibility and consuming within your means trumps fashion every time so I'm not even swinging here from a guidi authentic-only hardliner perspective, I just really don't know how you make the claims you make. I also don't know what you would summarize your ideal take-home message for this piece of content as, but I feel strongly that you're increasing the desirability and accessibility of inauthentic products that take advantage of intellectual property, not so far removed from the tiktoks you're looking into. Which is not my business nor my concern, I genuinely only care about the methods by which you reached this particular presentation of the replica market. Do push back because obviously I've written this with only the benefit of your video as source and not the entirety of your plan or intentions or what may have been included or cut for the sake of TH-cam marketability, feasibilities, practicality etc, all I can see is the end product, which I do not find compelling.
lil bros yappin
is this a joke
I think your assessment here is actually more informed by your bias than you realize. I don't think you're wrong, but to me the last few minutes of the video were more negative towards reps than positive. I also think you're expecting more than is reasonable from a "big tent" fashion channel like this - what Christian's doing here isn't aimed at someone with your level of interest in materials, craft, etc. and I think it would be unfair for you to expect that. What he's done is identified something that is clearly resonating with a large subset of people, and investigating both the positives and negatives of that.
@@LOWluxuryyou're right, it is informed by my bias, this is my view of it and the extent of that view. I'm glad you actually read my comment and engaged with what I said. I'll concede the end was fairly negative, my feeling is the overall messaging is net positive and it functionally would funnel those seriously interested parties towards the big rep vendors.
I don't think expecting a high level of rigor from a creator is unreasonable, and I don't think the size or scope of their channel really determines whether they can pump out a thorough investigation or not. I agree with what you say that he's doing with this video, and I still don't think it meets all the marks it should to be considered thorough and compelling. The larger the group of people you're speaking to, the more thorough I'd hope one would want to be. Is there any clean clear justification for why the things I've pointed out as glaring omissions are omitted? I'm not sure still, this video raises as many questions as the answers it provides
@@LOWluxury Guidi is aimed for those that care about materials to that high of an extent. I actually think he's right, specially when talking about Christian's method for acknowledging quality aka n=1 trustmebro i fooled him, and us not knowing where these claims are coming from. 10/10 great review
COVER YOURR ADDRESS
im a dumbass, i'll go back and blur that
To me, I think what is cool about certain brands is their attention to sustainable practices. To me, Guidi is one of those brands. I can't afford a pair, and probably never will. But reps don't have to follow sustainable and ethical practices, unlike the real brands. It would be great if we could all afford those special pieces, but i don't think reps is the answer. Also what would be the fun in that. The fun is in hunting the thing you really want for a price you can afford. Buying reps is like a form of fast fashion. If you really like something but aren't willing to spend the money, than it wasn't meant to be.
🎉🎉🎉
Don't support interlectual theft
W2C???
Ghost emperor is the plug.I can tell you, they are well-made shoes in isolation but they are not guidi's.The stack is not great and the horse leather is probably full grain cow hide (which is decent) but they are not 1:1.
is that a mf Julius fw17 neu romantika bomber in the background?
as someone whos worked in the industry and with manufacturers some of these manufactures have worked with these luxury brands the 30% rule so im not surprised that these reps are same quality or even better there basically the same
Sneaker reps and wristwatch reps have opened a lot of people's eyes to the level of price gouging going on within many industries/brands. Subreddits keep lists of "Not Worth Buying in Gen" because the fakes match the quality so closely it doesn't make sense to spend 10-20x more dollars for a 5% increase in "niceness."
@@Mister_Phafanapolisto piggyback your comment, even like the handbags of Chanel, the retail quality has significantly gone down. It’s all reported from retail buyers as well as rep buyers. And like Christian mentioned in his video, often consumers buy both retail and reps. So in this case, is paying for retail Chanel still worth it?
😂😂😂😂😂😂
I’m depressed thinking about the super messed up way that the horse died for those Chinese Guidis. I might be wrong and maybe they source the hide from the same place but I don’t think that’s the case.
A lot of cultures eat horse. I live in Australia and I buy horse leather to make bags and they source the hides from Poland and then tan them in Italy
Leather is typically a byproduct of meat industry. Unless they are exotic leathers. Horse leather is not an exotic
lol So not only are all you id iots styled like Our Generation and Culture you're a l s o buying Our Parents Styles Chit NOW T O O ?
You’re an L fam I could assume all your clothes is replica as well😅 shii has no value why do you think resellers spend 10’s of thousands on shoes? They hold value bro