You Bought a “Flagship” Vest for 400 RMB. Guess What. It’s Fake
Sportswear is having a moment in China. From Double Eleven sales reports to live-streaming haul videos, athletic gear is now one of the most reliable categories for driving purchases. Outdoor brands are exploding in popularity among the country’s urban middle class. Which means one thing. Counterfeiters smell opportunity.
Across social media, frustrated shoppers are posting about items that look legit at first glance but reveal suspicious details later. And some of these “flagship stores” are not just bending the truth. They are building entire fake ecosystems to pass as the real thing.
Fake Flagship Stores Are Multiplying
One shopper bought a vest for more than 400 RMB from what looked like an official On store. Everything seemed fine until the chest logo started looking slightly off. Then the inner label revealed a completely different, unknown brand. It turned out that On never even released that style. The store had simply called itself “ON Flagship Store,” used a nearly identical logo, and relied on shoppers not double-checking.
Alo Yoga provides an even cleaner example. The brand has never entered China. Yet Chinese e-commerce platforms host multiple stores with names like “ALOYOGA Sports Flagship Store” and “ALO Flagship Store.” They sell leggings at half the price of the real thing and rack up more than 200 sales a month.
Skims is in a similar position. The brand has only a handful of physical counters in cities like Beijing and Shanghai. Still, an identically named Skims flagship store exists online, selling a long slip dress for 620 RMB with more than 400 units sold per month. Some items are even priced higher than the discounted versions overseas. Skims launched in 2019. The company behind the Chinese store was registered in 2017.
Gymshark and Alphalete, both still absent from China, have also inspired a wave of unauthorized online “flagships.” Basic sportswear originally priced around 40 to 50 RMB gets repackaged and sold for close to 1,000 RMB. One shop bumped its leggings from 400 RMB to over 1,000 RMB after customers complained about authenticity. Some even create exclusive styles that do not exist on the brands’ official sites.
Why These Counterfeits Thrive
The reason these rising sports brands are such tempting targets is simple. They are winning in China. On continues to post rapid Asia Pacific growth. Hoka’s expansion is accelerating. Salomon and Wilson, under Amer Sports, are building momentum.
China’s sportswear market still has fewer players and lower penetration compared to Europe or the United States. The gap leaves room for opportunistic sellers to fill the void. And without official brand entry, counterfeiters move quickly to establish themselves before the real company arrives.
Trademark squatting is one of their favorite tactics. Alo Yoga’s parent company, ALO, LLC, has been trying to register “Alo Yoga” in China since 2015 but remains stuck in review. Meanwhile, more than 1,730 trademark applications exist that imitate or resemble “Alo Yoga.” The running brand On faces 217 similar registrations, covering everything from “On Run” to “On King.”
A Counterfeit Issue That Mirrors Global Patterns
The problem is not new. Red Points’ 2016 analysis of counterfeit sports products found Taobao and AliExpress leading the pack, accounting for 13.4 percent and 12.8 percent of detected fakes. But social platforms like Instagram and Facebook have also become major counterfeit channels.
Counterfeits tend to follow consumer trends. Two decades ago, fake smartphones dominated. In recent years, beauty products and streetwear were the biggest targets. Shiseido’s ANESSA changed its Chinese name to Anresha to fight imitations. The makeup brand Excel was forced to register the name “SANAexcel Overseas Flagship Store” to establish authenticity.
Now that sportswear is booming, fake athletic gear is the latest battlefield.
Shoppers Are Getting Smarter
Consumers today are more proactive and discerning. One sneaker buyer complained that their counterfeit pair felt flimsy. The shoe compressed in strange ways when stopping suddenly, felt a size too small, and used noticeably thinner materials. Some runners even analyze carbon plates to check whether their shoes match official specifications.
This shift shows that core consumers are no longer willing to accept poor-quality imitations at a slight discount. Authenticity is becoming a priority.
What Comes Next for Global Brands
For international fitness brands, the message is clear. If they remain absent from China, imitators will fill the space. The longer they delay, the harder it becomes to build real brand recognition and convert loyal customers.
Entering China is no longer just about securing market share. It is about reclaiming identity before the counterfeit ecosystem becomes too entrenched.
