How to spot fake surf (Quicksilver) shorts

This is my experience buying some (fake) Quiksilver shorts from eBay. Basically, as soon as I received the shorts I knew they were fake. However, I needed some evidence; so I purchased some original shorts for $80 and compared. Below are my findings. If you think that I have made a mistake (or even if you agree), I would love to hear from you.

Firstly, photos of the shorts as displayed in the item description. These are the listing images as found in the description. The shorts look quite nice.
eBay item image; front of fake shorts.eBay item image; back of fake shorts.

Now lets have some pictures of the actual shorts that arrived (excuse the carpet background)

Actual photo of fake shorts once received.

Actual photo of back of fake shorts once received.

They look quite similar, actually, very similar. So what is wrong with them? Lets have a closer look.

Throughout this guide I will be comparing the shorts against genuine Quicksilver shorts.

genuine Quicksilver shorts. used to compare with fake shorts.

Above is a pair of genuine Quiksilver shorts purchased for $80.

Inconstancies

Firstly lets look at the inconstancies:

inconstancies 1: Velcro stitching.

This is a pair of Velcro, notice one side has a diagonal line, the other doesn’t.

Inconstancies 2: different stitching at front and back.

This is a photo of the groin area of the shorts (the area where the front meets the back). Notice that there is double stitching on one side and triple stitching on the other.

Stitching

Stitching: very untidy and ugly.

The above photo is a picture of the stitching of the fake shorts. Notice the stitching is generally very messy. Doesn’t overlap properly, and even goes outside the fabric. Now lets look at the stitching of genuine shorts.

Genuine stitching: note how nicer looking.

It looks a lot nicer, no ugly overlapping and they even added extra overlapping stitching. Generally it looks much nicer.

Screen-print

The screen print sealed the deal; it was what made me certain the shorts were fake. There is no way a respectable and reputable company would release a product with a screen print of such poor quality.

Screen print: splotches of white paint

Above can be observed white paint in splotches and patches; these are areas where too much paint was applied. Furthermore, it areas can be observed with too little paint, with the red still visible under the white.

Screen print 2: ghosting of logo

The screen print has some obvious ghosting, not a clear, crisp print as would be expected. This is throughout the screen-print.

Screen print 3: splashes of white paint.

Finally, all over the shorts were splashes of white paint.

As I mentioned to the seller, I could do a better screen print then that.

Final aspects

While it is difficult to say if all shorts should have these, below are some of the features a pair of genuine shorts have.

Genuine shorts features rubber clear square with silver logo.

Rubber square with silver Quiksilver logo.

Genuine shorts features logo printed on aglets.

Quiksilver logo printed on the lace’s aglets

Genuine shorts features rubber logo stitched in the seam.

Rubber Quiksilver cutout logo, stitched in the seam of the short’s.

Genuine shorts features stitched logo.

Quiksilver logo made from stitches.

The fake shorts purchased had none of these features or anything else that looked ‘special’, the real shorts had all of the above.

Conculsion

I hope that this information will be helpful for future buyers. The seller of the shorts did give me a full refund, but only after I returned the item. I am guessing he resold them. Feel free to share your opinion, but I think the evidence is quite clear.


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Comments

4 responses to “How to spot fake surf (Quicksilver) shorts”

  1. Tonja Novida Avatar
    Tonja Novida

    Keep working ,good writting!

  2. yossef katz Avatar
    yossef katz

    Hi,
    i just bought a quick silver board shorts.
    guess what…i should have check your website before i did it.
    i recieved a poor quality shorts and i have checked all the things you mantioned,all of them exist,which meens i lost money!!!!

    any way, i hope to be updated before i buy stuff on e bay.

    yossef katz

  3. jono Avatar
    jono

    OOPS,
    I have in the last 3 months purchased 9 quickies for the incredible price of $13.85 including shipping and until now have been very happy with them,i always have bought quicksilver since the late seventies as they always fit well and dry fast.
    My latest purchases arrived today and instead of the ones i payed for i got 2 pairs of Monster energy shorts with the same tag that was on my quickies but instead of quicksilver over the surf picture its a monster logo?
    Does quicksilver do monster contracts?
    They are still good boardies all round and all 9,and perform as good as last summers genuine pairs so i cant complain.

    1. zee788 Avatar
      zee788

      You probably got ripped off.

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