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A world of fakes…

By on • ( 30 Comments )

Today I went to visit an asian store in Newmarket called Osia.  I’ve previously noted from its display window a lot of Rilakkuma plushies.

The price for the plushies were reasonable ranging from $30 to $60NZD, but on closer inspection I realised they were all fakes!  This is really sad.  Just like Louis Vuitton (I’m a fan and collector of Louis Vuitton too ^-^) the world of Rilakkuma is brimming with fakes!  In fact, I haven’t seen a shop in Auckland that sells authentic Rilakkuma products.

Here are some photos from Osia Judy and I managed to sneak in.  Sorry for the poor quality – we didn’t want to get caught by the shopkeeper.

Fake rilakkuma - they look wrong, and are the wrong sizes for their series

All fakes

Fake limited Bonjour plush on the top. Wrong sizing, wrong scarf, wrong colours, wrong material. A picture of the authentic one shown on the bottom for comparison. Look at how big the Honeybee plush is on the right - so wrong.

Another place full of fakes is Ebay.  Here are a few pictures demonstrating this –

Some fakes are very very OBVIOUS!

This design was never released by San-X. And Rilakkuma looks so wrong! And look at the tag - the Bonjour plush is not part of the 7th Happy Anniversary series! >.<

Some fakes are a bit more subtle

The fake dragon plushies look horrible! And look at their fake tags! The dragon series tag should not have the forest theme on it, nor should it have the icon for the Happy 7th Rainbow Anniversary! >.<

I reckon the worst of all is that all of these fakes are selling at the same or higher prices than the genuine ones!  And all the sellers claim they are genuine San-x products.  Little liars.

I myself was a victim of such fraud.  My first Rilakkuma plushies were from an E-bay seller, I bought each for about $40NZD.  They were both fakes from Korea.

My first Rilakkuma plushies - both fakes >.< so sad!

Most of the time it’s very easy to tell a fake from a genuine plushie – the fake ones are usually made from cheaper materials, look asymmetrical, look ‘off’ or feature a design/theme San-x has never released.  But some, such as the ones in Osia, can be tricky to rattle out.  I find with these, inspecting the tags and labels can be very helpful.  I’ve compiled below a quick guide on distinguishing fake from genuine rilakkuma plushies.

Please click to enlarge

Please click to enlarge

They took me a while to do, I hope you’ve found them somewhat useful haha.

On a happier note, one of my Singapore suppliers have told me my Dragon series have arrived with her!  Now I’m just waiting for her to receive the Candy Korilakkuma and the furry Korilakkuma, then they can all be shipped to me.  Mwhahahaha!

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30 replies »

  3. Pingback: Fake versus Genuine Rilakkuma continued… « Everyday with Rilakkuma feels happy like a Rainbow!

  5. Not true,
    Products that have license (from san x / such as korean product) belong to genuine items. also, it’s all san-x’s possessions. 🙂

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    • Hello,

      Thanks for reading! The Korean ones I got and are pictured are 100% fake. Maybe there are some San-X products made in Korea, but I just haven’t seen any.

      Do you have some? Maybe you could share some pictures and I can post them up. I would understand China to monopolize manufacturing because of the cheaper labour and materials. Japan because it is the country of origin.

      Anyway, regardless of where it’s made the plush design and tags should be laid out as I have pointed up above.

      Thanks!

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      • By the way, not sure what I said is ‘not true’, it’s true whether made in Korea or China or whichever country you like – a Rilakkuma plushie tag will only have Japanese/English characters… so Korean characters should not be found on a tag regardless of whether it is made in Korea (have yet to see this) or not.

        I can only speak for plushes made up until now, maybe things will be different in the future. Anyway, hope that helps clear things up. 🙂

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  6. Thank you so much for posting about this!!! It was very helpful, especially the photos. I just bought a fake and you helped me know better for next time!

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  7. Hi there! This post was really helpful to me, and I was wondering if you knew any online shops where I could get an authentic, furry Rilakkuma plush shipped to the USA (the type in your profile, and the one in your photo here: https://maryrilakkuma.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/furryrila.jpg)?
    I was just duped and bought a fake one off of eBay, which is disappointing because I’ve been looking for this fuzzy guy for ages! I’m definitely not going to buy from there again; the prices look cheap at first glance but I guess that the majority of the items aren’t the quality of authenticity that they advertise. Thanks for making this informative post, at any rate!

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  8. Hello. I recently bought a batch of forest themed and bonjour rilakkuma off of ebay that were all fakes from Korea upon closer inspection. ;-; Do you have any suggestions on where I can find genuine rilakkuma aside from ebay and shopkawaii? Buying fakes are always so disappointing, especially when the sellers are so certain that they are not. ):

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  9. I am glad I found your blog! I only recently discovered Rilakkuma and have been searching around for one that I liked, luckily I haven’t bought one yet because I was mainly looking at ebay, and had no idea there were fakes out there! Are the stores listed on the San-X website as retailers of Rilakkuma reliable sources to buy from? I was also looking for the fuzzy plush that a girl above had mentioned- https://maryrilakkuma.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/furryrila.jpg
    Or just a plain one around 9 inches with the zipper in the back. I was looking at shopkawaii.com and modes4u.com Not sure if those are good ones or not! 🙂 🙂

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    • Hi Rachel!

      Thanks for visiting my blog and finding it useful!

      Yes, those retailers on San-X’s site are reliable sources. Shopkawaii and modes4u.com are legit. Good luck!

      Mary

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  11. what if your plushie was bought at a convention and had no tags just a price sticker
    or something how would you tell then?

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  12. This is great! Thank you very much! It really helped me. I have a question about one of my plush. I just got if from a seller on ebay. Everything about it matches with how a real Rilakkuma Plush is suppose to be except for the fact that the made in China part of the tag on the plush is on the front along with some Japanese. The plush is from the strawberry series and it’s the Korilakkuma in a blue Bunny costume one. Is this okay? Is this plush real even if the Made In China part is on the front of the tag? The back of the tag has Rilakkuma and San-X on it.

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    • Hi Cecilia,
      Yes, the genuine ones do say Made in China in the front of the tag. But that doesn’t mean your plush is genuine. The part I’m not sure about is that Korilakkuma is in a blue bunny costume from the strawberry series… not sure whether that design exists….

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      • One thing I forgot to mention was that it’s from a Fanclub or something? I’m not sure if this will make it anymore clear.

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  13. Hi there. ^^ I have a question about plain Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma plushies I’ve bought, and I was wondering if they were fakes? My Rilakkuma, I got at a local anime convention, is made with a more ‘fluffy’ fabric than normal. I accidentally removed the tag a long time ago, so I don’t remember what it looked like, but it had one of those San-x holographic stickers on it. The tag was attached to the tush tag on the leg, which matches with the real yellow tush tags in one of your pictures. I thought it was a fake, because the zipper on the back is sewn on, rather than being a real zipper you can open and close, but I’ve seen somewhere that those ones can still be real?

    As for my Korilakkuma, I bought it at a shop in Little Tokyo in LA. It looks pretty well made. The section in the shop said something like, they were made special for US or something, I think. Anyway, on this one, the paper tag is attached to the ear, but it does also have the San-x holographic sticker, that says San-x, a line of numbers, the copyright, and then “overseas.”
    I don’t see any of the tush tags it has in your pictures, but one of the tags, along with the Rilakkuma one, is for “Dream/dreamiusa.com.” The paper tag on the ear also confirms that, and links to the san-x.jp website, as well as the San-x Facebook page, with other details, etc.

    I was just wondering if these were fakes? ^^ I thought my Korilakkuma was real, but I’m having doubts. It’s a shame, cause I was gonna go back to that shop and get more, but I’d rather not if they all happen to be fakes. ^^;

    Thanks. 🙂

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    • Hey Karen, sorry for the late reply! Have been busy with baby and all. An authentic rilakkuma can have stitched on zipper at the back – especially those released by fansclub for arcades/UFO catchers etc. Not sure about the Korilakkuma, I’ve never seen the dreamiusa tags on San-x products. Sorry I haven’t been very helpful. It’s probably best to ask the shop you bought the Korilakkuma from. Good luck!

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      • Hi, thanks so much for visting and commenting! 🙂 I think you are asking me regarding the authenticity of your rilakkuma? Sorry, I’m unable to answer that question for you. Perhaps you could contact San-X regarding this. Good luck!

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  15. The dark brown fake one in your vid was really cute, though I can tell its shape made it slightly off. Where did you get that thingy? Most of the times, the fake ones are not as nice looking as real ones. But in where I live, there are many many of those. Once a friend of mine made fun of a small one because it’s nose is higher than the eyes, and I told her to hang it upside down. At the end, she ended up buying it. It’s like less than, $5USD.

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