
Nikeās lawsuit against StockX, which began last year as a dispute over how the reselling platform was using Nike trademarks for its NFTs and has since evolved to include serious challenges to the authenticity of products traded on StockX, took its latest spicy turn last week. A heavily redacted document submitted by Nike lawyers on Wednesday breaks down in some detail the source of the fake sneakers Nike has referenced in the lawsuit.
The letter from Nikeās lawyers explains that between March and July 2022, a sneaker collector and reseller bought 38 pairs of sneakers from StockX only to later discover that they were counterfeit. The letter says that Nike contacted the reseller to inspect the sneakers from StockX and confirmed that they were fakes.
While Nikeās letter omits the resellerās identity and many of the details about the sneakers he bought, a December transcript filed in the case docket names Roy Kim as the third-party consumer who bought the 38 fake shoes. The same transcript features the revelation that another batch of fake sneakers Nikeās focused on in the lawsuit came from Zadeh Kicks, the infamous Oregon reseller whose Ponzi-scheme-style sneaker business collapsed in 2022.
In an interview with Complex, Kim says that heād bought a batch of 62 Air Jordan 1s from StockX last year as an investment. His plan was to take advantage of a dip in the market and resell them for profit. Until he realized over half of the pairs heād purchased from StockX were showing as fake on popular apps used to check shoesā authenticity.
āWeāre talking about the SKUs that matter, that have very, very, very accurate reps and the failure rate, at that point in time, was really high,ā Kim says. āI mean, 50% plus of those SKUs failing in that time period, it really wasnāt anything human-error related. To me, thatās a systemic issue.ā
After he posted about the issue on social media last year, he eventually got StockXās attention and a full refund. He also got pulled into the lawsuit between Nike and StockX. Because heās involved in the lawsuit, there are things Kim canāt discuss. Although, some of the holes in his story are filled in by court documents.
āNikeās brand protection team visited Mr. Kim, looked at his shoes, documented our findings,ā a Nike lawyer explained in a December 2022 conference, per a transcript from the conference. Per the redacted letter, this happened on July 22, 2022.
Nike did not respond to a request for comment on Kimās ordeal for this storyāthe brand generally doesnāt comment on pending litigation.

In a statement to Complex, StockX defended its process for verifying sneakers.
āWe stand by our verification process as one of the first and best in the industry, and in 2022 alone rejected more than 330,000 products worth nearly $100M,ā a spokesperson said. āStockX also has a buyer promise in place, which is central to our mission of offering a safe and secure marketplace for both buyers and sellers. If we make a mistake and incorrectly verify an item, weāre committed to making it right for our customers.ā
Kim hasnāt been totally dissuaded from using StockXāhe says still buys from there and appreciates its role in making sneakers accessibleābut does think there are fundamental flaws to the business.
Here, we spoke to Kim about what StockX did upon realizing the shoes were fake, his place in the lawsuit, and how he got his money back. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
How did the whole thing start?
It started off back in March, April 2022. Because I am a collector/reseller, I was looking, at the time, at some specific SKUsāāUNCā 1s, āMochaā 1s, āHyper Royalā 1sāand they had kind of dipped in the market and me feeling like, āOh, what a great opportunity. Iāll buy a bunch of these from StockX.ā So I bought, I want to say 60 to 70 pairs of these off StockX at the time, and it got delivered over a span of three or four weeks.
Are you somebody who shops on there a lot? Because it seems like buying that many pairs might raise a red flag in their system.
No, Iāve been buying a lot of pairs. I mean, Iāve spent over a million bucks on StockX platform in total.
So I mean, that was kind of the resale thing of 2022 for resellers. If youāre able to get the bulk volume discount and you have a proper business set up and you get a reseller certificate applied, you get sales tax submitted. So you can buy these things with a high bid and then drop them off at your favorite consignment store. That was kind of the arbitrage opportunity there.
That was a pretty successful strategy up until all these consignment stores started going belly up and now that strategy no longer exists. So for some of this stuff, I was buying it for my local consignment store. I felt the value of that shoe was under-market so I bought these. And I tend to post this type of stuff on my Instagram, which is followed by a bunch of resellers. And someone had warned me like, āHey, just be careful. I know someone whoās found these one-to-one fakes that are passing through StockX so just, when you get the pairs, check them.ā So I got the pairs, and as they came in, I checked them, and then I ran them through CheckCheck app and Legit Check app both, and they were failing both the apps.
Have you had something like that happen before? Have you ever had shoes fail on there?
Yeah, but not at that scale. Youāre buying stuff from events and stuff, and every once in a while, youāll have a check and they check the insole stitching on those shoes, and they look suspect. So not at that scale.
And the scale is what exactly? You bought how many pairs?
I bought around 60-ish, I think it was 62 pairs of those three SKUs specifically. And at the end of it, I think 38 of them had failed.
38 out of 62 shoes.
Yeah, of those SKUs, the ones I checked. So there were additional ones that those apps had passed later, that I think also turned out to be fake. But when Nike came to inspect them, I didnāt have them in hand. So it was 38 out of 62. I mean, more than 50% of these turned out to be fake, according to these apps.
Thatās an insane ratio.
Itās an insane ratio, and thatās the thing that gets me, right? Whenever StockX talks about, āitās a very low percentage,ā I mean, yeah, but no oneās faking Martine Rose Air Monarchs, you know?
Weāre talking about the SKUs that matter, that have very, very, very accurate reps and the failure rate, at that point in time, was really high. I mean, 50% plus of those SKUs failing in that time period, it really wasnāt anything human error-related. To me, thatās a systemic issue. I couldnāt believe it. I first ran it through, I think it was, Legit Check app first, maybe CheckCheck. I ran it through that first and then theyāre like, āThese are failing.ā I was like, āAlright, Iām going to check the other apps.ā And they failed.
At this point in time, both these apps are saying these are failing, so I tried to reach out to StockX, originally. I was like, āHey, I have an issue. Iām a bulk buyer and a lot of these pairs are coming back fake, and I need someone to reach out to me.ā And I never really heard back from them.

Iām surprised, I would think that spending how much money you do on there, that they would treat you with some priority.
Yeah. And I donāt know if itās just the way I filed that support ticket. Maybe I didnāt categorize it. Generally, my support with them is pretty good. And thatās the thing about the story is, Iām actually a pretty big StockX fan. I mean, Iāve been buying from them since, still. I just avoid the SKUs I know are problematic. And Iāve been a big proponent of StockX for a while, and I still like them.
At the time, it was a little frustrating because I couldnāt get a hold of anybody there. I was trying to reach out to their discord and trying to get someone to escalate this internally somehow. And it just got to the point where Iām just like, āYou know what? Sometimes you just have to post stuff that goes viral in order to get peopleās attention.ā
I donāt know if you actually saw the Instagram post, but I had worded it very carefully where I was like, āThese shoes are failing these apps.ā
I was trying not to say explicitly ātheyāre fakeā because to me, authenticityāthereās a whole other thing about what authenticity is and whoās the ultimate authority on that, which is really the brand. But I was just trying to get this to go viral enough so that StockX would notice me and I could deal with the situation and have someone reach out. And of course, it did go viral, fortunately. Yeah, so StockX did reach out at that point in time.
So in that redacted document, thereās a mention of a name of a gentleman who reached out to me. And at that point, he reached out and he was like, āAlright, weāll take a look at these.ā So they sent me labels to take a look at the shoes, they want me to send them back.
So I sent the shoes back to StockX, and, of course, they did their checks as well. They reached out and theyāre like, āYep. Yeah, these are all falling underā¦ā Theyāre kind of talking around it a little bit. And at that point, I didnāt really care. I think based on their conversations, they knew what the situation was and I knew what the situation was as well.
They werenāt trying to admit outright that they were fake?
Basically, yes. But they offered to fully refund me. They gave me a $500 gift card for my troubles, and they offered to fly me out to Detroit so I can see the authentication process in person and stuff.
Did you go to Detroit?
No, because knowing what I knew at the time, I didnāt know when this information would come out. I thought itād be super awkward if I was there and somehow they found out this other stuff. Now looking at some of the timelines in the redacted document, yeah, Iām glad I didnāt go out there. I would like to, but it just seems like itād be awkward. And honestly, I have a whole host of other things going on in my life right now too.
This is a busy year for work. For me, reselling is something else, itās just a little bit of fun on the side. Itās not a career thing. I like sneakers and Iām very into business, so it was kind of a nice, interesting, fun thing to do last year, but now Iām running out of time to do it.
How big was the refund from StockX?
They refunded me on 38 shoes. I mean, they refunded each individual order. I think each order was around at least 350, times 38, so I donāt know, over 10 grand, 12 grand, something like that. And then they gave me the $500 gift card. So they made me whole, and I think, to that extent, it wouldāve been better had that process occurred without me having to do all this work around trying to get it viral and dealing with the stress of, āAm I stuck with a bunch of fake shoes that Iām just going to have to throw away at some point?ā
What compelled you to take part in the deposition and things like that? Did you already have your refund at that point? And was there any moment where you were like, āIām done with this. You guys can figure this outā?
So, for me, I did get the refund, but the thing is, I really like StockX, I really think theyāre actually a critical part of sneaker accessibility and I believe in the concept. The problem is, theyāve never really been held accountable for the way theyāve handled this stuff.
And I know from personal experience people whoāve gotten fakes from StockX, and StockXās response in the past has been to sell it back on the platform, which rubs me the wrong way. And this was actually something that came up because I was trying to remember when it happened because Iāve gotten feedback from them on that. I know other people have, but Iāve gotten feedback like that, too. And it just felt wrong. If you have a fake shoe, even if you think itās a fake shoe, the answer shouldnāt be: make this someone elseās problem.
And this is the other thing, when I got my fake shoes, the 38 shoes that I had, when I posted it and it went viral, the biggest pain in the ass was the number of DMs I got from people being like, āHey, what are you going to do with those shoes? Can I have them? Can you sell to me at a discount?ā Iām like, āDude, no, Iām not going to pass on bad product and make it someone elseās problem.ā

And I think this is what bugged me about StockXās situation, is that theyāre claiming a hundred percent authenticity at the time but there was no recourse for it. Their decision was always final. If you tried to question it, theyāre like, no, the authenticators, theyāre final. So to me, that was the real issue. And along with all the people who were like, āHey, can you give me the fakes?ā And I got all these stories from people who were like, āHey, can you look at this shoe I got from StockX?ā
Iām sure you get these messages like, āCan you tell me this is real? I got it from StockX. I canāt get them to do anything. I donāt know what to do. Should I get a chargeback?ā I knew that my situation wasnāt isolated. So for me, it was more about, I think, the accountability of StockX being held at that standard. Again, to me, this was a huge systemic error. A human error, like one shoe being fake, alright, thatās fine. An authenticator has to do so many shoes, they made a mistake. But for more than 50%?
Thereās something wrong with the process.
Thereās something wrong with the process and they werenāt doing anything to that end. And again, and Iāll be clear about this, Iām not affiliated with Nike in any way. Iāve gotten nothing out of this from Nike. To me, this whole thing is honestly a giant time-suck.
But to me, it is a bigger issue that I like StockX but they werenāt being held accountable. Itās not a hundred percent authentic. They canāt claim that. And your process doesnāt really support the people who get wronged in the process either, and thereās a lot of people that are like that. So for me, the motivation there really is, OK, maybe I am at least in a position to make some type of waves about this and maybe StockX should look back at this stuff and we shouldnāt proliferate this problem.
Because also, as a reseller, Iām really tired of seeing fakes in the market. So thereās part of that as well. I think for me, the bigger thing is, maybe I do have an opportunity to do something about this and make at least a small change in this. So that was my motivation for it, even after I got my money back. I wanted a better process. I think if you can get to a point with a company like StockX, where theyāre held to a certain standard and youāre not ripping off consumers intentionally. Iām not saying theyāre doing it intentionally, but if youāre not ripping off consumers who now are buying these $400 Mocha 1s and finding out theyāre fake three months down the line, maybe I could do something about that. So thatās the motivation there.
But you say youāll still buy from StockX and you continue to do so?
Yeah. I mean, I stopped buying problematic SKUs.
What are the problematic SKUs?
You got āUNCā 1s, you got āHyper Royalā 1s, āMochaā 1s, white-on-white Air Force 1s are problematic. You just kind of hear stuff. Iām in a bunch of cook groups, you hear which fakes are getting really good, and then Iāll just start avoiding those. Generally, Iāve moved more toward the types of Dunks that arenāt reallyāthereās a rumor that Pandas are highly faked, but I havenāt actually seen it. So the shoes that I started buying after that were very close to release, where the fakes werenāt as good, or shoes that are just not worth it from a market value perspective for them to make fakes because theyāre so close to retail.

So thatās kind of how I shifted. I havenāt bought any of the āUNCā 1, āMochaā 1s, āHyper Royalā 1s since then, even after. There was a photo leak afterward on Twitter where they moved the āUNCā 1s into their tier-one authentication, where I think two senior authenticators have to sign off on it along with a junior authenticator or something, I forget. But even after that, I just didnāt feel comfortable because the fakes are getting too good. I still didnāt really trust StockXās ability on those SKUs to manage that. I just didnāt want to deal with the trouble. I just didnāt want to go through that process.
You donāt want to have that question in the back of your head of whether or not youāre handling a fake or selling a fake or wearing a fake.
Especially as a reseller, too, because that has downstream effects. I could take it, it might look good, and then down the line you find out and then it becomes this whole thing you have to unwind where, alright, gotta give you your money back then. So it was just not worth the risk at that point, as a reseller.
The fakes that you received from them, were they very close to the actual shoe? Do you think itās something you could have determined with your own naked eye?
So, Iām not a great authenticator. I can say that, yeah, from the naked eye, on the outside, they are pretty accurate.
Itās obviously not your responsibility to solve these systemic problems that you say StockX has, but do you think thereās anything they can do to really verify these problematic SKUs that have pairs in the market that are so close to the real thing?
No, and I think thatās the thing. My personal opinion is that Nike are the only ones who can say somethingās authentic or not. To me, thatās it. I mean, they own the product, they know what goes into it, they know the relationships that made the shoes. They know all that information. Theyāre the only ones who can say for sure. And thatās kind of the tricky thing with this whole verified versus authentic.
Thereās no way StockX can claim authenticity. So they did move to āverified,ā which I think is the right move from a consumer standpoint.
As long as the consumer understands that is a thing that doesnāt mean this is a hundred percent legitimate.
Exactly. And I think theyāve got the marketing right where theyāre talking about. āAnd if you donāt feel comfortable, weāll take it back.ā Thatās all I was really driving for is, one, donāt claim itās authentic, and two, if the consumer feels like they have, for whatever reason, they donāt think itās right, then take it back and either take a look at it again or whatever it is youāre going to do.
But just donāt put people in a scenario where youāre claiming itās 100% authentic and if you come back and say something itās like, āOh no, weāre right, youāre stuck with it.ā And these people end up with what they think are fake.
Those resell platforms are all in a bad position in that regard. This isnāt just StockX, right? This is Ebay and Goat. Those two make similar claims, on the surface at least, to what StockX used to do.
Is there one that you trust more than the other?
No. To me, they all have problems. Iāve seen the worst fakes come in through Goat. One of my friends got a Kith x Nike Air Force 1 that didnāt even say āKithā on the shoe.
No way.
It was bad. I havenāt had personal issues with Ebay, but I know other people have issues. I mean, itās a human process. Itās a human process with imperfect information.
And they can talk about AI and institutional knowledge and experience, but the rep makers have such a financial incentive on some of these shoes to learn about how these are being detected and find ways to defeat it. And thatās just crazy.
Thatās the game and it really sucks. I wish there was a better solution for it. But I think at heart, what StockX is doing is right, I just still think they try to hew a little bit toward maybe trying to encompass authenticity in the verified side. I mean, it was very clearly driven by this lawsuit, the realization they canāt claim that.