TikTok and Reddit are full of people sharing the best dupes for high-end skincare, fragrances, apparel, home goods, and more.
Unlike counterfeits, dupes don’t pretend to be brand names, but are of comparable quality to the OG at an affordable price.
Which sounds cool, unless you're Lululemon. The athleisure brand has experienced slumping sales and shares as rivals crowd the space, and now, it’s suing Costco, accusing the members-only retailer of selling copies of its designs at much lower prices.
Lululemon’s 49-page complaint claims Costco's items use similar marketing language, including “tidewater teal” as a color description.
And earlier this year, reporter Alexander Aciman compared the two pants for The New York Times’ Wirecutter and found their construction “almost identical.” He even contacted Lululemon to ask if they’d made them.
It's since been revealed that manufacturers including Danskin and Jockey are behind the items mentioned in Lulu's lawsuit, but many name-brand companies do supply products for stores’ privates, such as CostCo’s Kirkland while some apparel brands, like Quince, sell affordable versions of luxury garments manufactured in the same factory.
For Lululemon, that’s part of the problem; its complaint asserts Costco shoppers know this, and may believe Lululemon supplied the dupes — which Aciman noted lacked the more thoughtful design elements of the authentic pants, and used a less comfy fabric.
Under US law, protecting a garment’s design is much harder than protecting trademarks, logos, and labels, Susan Scafidi, founder and pretor of the Fashion Law Institute at the Fordham School of Law, told the NYT.
But Ugg-parent Deckers also sued Costco earlier this year, accusing it of selling an identical copy of an Ugg slippers.
If Lulu and/or Deckers win, it may take a bite out of dupe culture. But that may not result in sales for shoppers willing to spend $8 but not $118. And it won't stop budget-conscious shoppers from flocking to Costco to get the dupes while they can.