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Real or Fake

Can you tell the difference between real and fake BBC, Ice Creams or A Bathing Ape items?

Some items are easy to spot, either by the swing tags, design or purely by price. The number one rule, and our moto is:

If it's too good to be true, then it probably is!

Now, we're not saying you can't find a bargain, but with BBC and BAPE, there just aren't any to be had! Most items appear with a buy it now price and if they're desireable enough, they will go for that amount.

Anyway, on to more important things: how to spot fakes! We'll be taking a look at BBC and Ice Cream products, but a lot of rules can easily be applied to BAPE products too.

To make things more accessible, we've actually put together an eBay guide on spotting FAPE! There are two versions, one for the UK, and one for the US. Click on one of the links to view the guide and please vote if you find it usefull!



We've listed most of the points here for your own education and viewing pleasure:

Please note that these points are here for guidance and may vary from product to product as there are a variety of manufacturers making fake items.

Billionaire Boys Club T-shirts (Season 0/OG)
The first article on this page is all about the original BBC T-shirts. Here is a list of things to look for:


  1. Price - Is it too good to be true? Well, it probably is then!

  2. The Logo - Check the large BBC logo on the front. The lines around the face are supposed to be thin, not thick like the fakes. Take a look at the image below and see what I mean.

  3. FAKE - REAL BBC Font - Check the font for the words "Billionaire Boys Club". It should be Italic. Again, check the image above. The difference can be amazing!

  4. Shirt Tags - The first run of BBC shirts came with two tags on the inside collar. One was a small BBC logo tag and the other was longer and had washing instructions. Black BBC tags are NOT authentic.

  5. Price Tags - The original run of BBC shirts came with 3 seperate tags tied together with one piece of string. The first tag is a large red spaceship, that opens into two. The second was a single piece moonman, and the the third was a circular red moonman tag with the BBC mantra and number out of 5900.

  6. Inside collar - The rear inside collar should have the BBC mantra underneath the tags. It should say "Wealth is of the heart and mind not the pocket". The mantra should be spread over two lines.

  7. Moonman - The moonman should be on the back of the shirt. The detail is quite good and the lines should be relatively thin, not chunky.

  8. Screen Printed - Every BBC related logo on the shirt (minus the tags) should be screen printed. Iron-ons are fake!

  9. Errors - The headphone around the head of the astronaut should not connect to the BBC text.

  10. Packaging - The original run of BBC shirts came in BAPE style zip bags, but with a large moonman on the front. There were no BAPE logos at all with the shirt.

  11. BAPE logo - The official, original run did not have a single BAPE logo on the shirt. Anything with a BAPE logo on the sleeve, cannot be confirmed by me! The reason some fakes have the BAPE logo is because Pharrell can be seen wearing t-shirts like this. It is possible that BAPE produced a few like this, but the official release did not carry this logo.



Since the official release, fake's have been getting harder and harder to distinguish from authentic items. Even professional sports personalities are wearing fakes now! Fakes usually come printed on Red, Blue or Green t-shirts. The official release was only printed on Black, White and Brown t-shirts.

Here's a flash presentation that will hopefully help you see what the differences are.



If you can read this text, you need to install the Macromedia Flash player.



Ice Creams
Here's some info on how to spot fake Ice Creams.


  1. Box - Ice Creams were sold in Ice Cream boxes, they should have rounded corners. Not square, like a lot of fakes. Real boxes are also larger than the fake ones

  2. Shoehorn - You got a sealed, pink shoehorn in the box.

  3. Laces - You got a second pair of laces in the box too. The colour depended on the style and variant of the Ice Creams you bought.

  4. Keyring - Each pair also carried an Ice Cream cone keyring with it. It's rubber. 1 per pair.

  5. Number - Each shoe has it's number stitched to the inside of the tongue. Different variants had different runs. Some as little as 2000, others as much as 5500.

  6. Inside Stitching - The inside of the tongue should have the Ice Cream logo and "ice cream footwear" stitched to the inside. Fakes say the same. Beeper and Dice flavour Ice Creams also say "Made In China". All other editions just say "ice cream footwear". The stitching around this should be rounded in the corners. Fake's are almost completely square.

  7. Ice Cream Cone - The Ice Cream logo should be detailed and clear on the rear of the shoe.

  8. Print Contrast - The contrast of the print is far higher on the fakes. It may not be that noticeable at first, but the real ones have more definition to them.

  9. More Stitching - The front of the tongue is stitched with the Ice Cream font, which should be very clear. Fakes can be very badly stitched.

  10. Soles - The soles of fakes often have a yellow tint and the image can be unclear.

  11. Variants - Officially released variants:

    • Diamond Dollar

    • Money Rolls

    • Mini Diamond Dollar

    • Dice

    • Pager/Beeper

    • Name Chain

    • Teddy Bear

    • Lipstick





Thanks to Wayne Smith for some of the info on spotting fake Ice Creams.


General Info for BBC & BAPE Hoodies

The following information applies for both BBC, Ice Cream and BAPE hoodies. Most manufacturers of FAPE make low grade quality replicas of the original items. When it comes to hoodies, they often go for low prices, so to increase profits, they use lower quality materials.

BBC, Ice Cream and BAPE hoodies are all made from 100% cotton! If you see a hoody and it looks fleexcy inside, walk away! The inside of hoodies should look like the inside of a pair of jeans, not like the inside of a fleece hoody.

Of course, BAPE do make fleece hoodies too, so these are the exceptions, and you need to be careful, but this is one of the first things to look out for!


General Info for BBC & BAPE Jeans

Always inspect the designs quality. FAPE never matches the original exactly, but they get close! Amazingly, fake BBC Jeans sometimes have the leather tag on the rear upside down!



If you have more information on spotting fakes and would like contribute to this page, please contact us with and we'll add it as soon as we can and we always give credit!

Coming soon...
Forum member foekk has kindly expanded on this site's information and handed us some great images and info. We'll be integrating it soon, but in the meantime, check out his very own Real or Fake page!