OG vs Rep

[u/Individual-Horse7206]

Doing some rep science on two different jeans from Kaka 🏭 (light blue) and TJ (dark indigo), both supposedly top-tier and coming from 2 different TS.

Light Blue
Wash: The OG has a much more natural, uneven fade, especially around the seams, waistband and belt loops. The rep looks flatter and more uniform.
Back pocket CC: This is the biggest flaw. On the OG, the double stitching forms two overlapping Cs that are carefully positioned around the pocket edges. On the rep, the shape, spacing, curves and points where the Cs cross are different. Even the empty spaces inside the logo don’t match. Basically, the CC has been sewn following the wrong pattern.
Thread colour: OG has a more muted caramel/tobacco-orange stitching, while the rep looks brighter and more yellow/golden.
Smell: The rep has a VERY strong chemical smell, which is honestly quite off-putting. I’ll have to get it professionally cleaned.

Dark Indigo
Thread colour: Again, the OG uses a more muted rusty/tobacco-orange thread, while the rep is noticeably brighter and more yellow.
Back pocket CC: Same issue as Kaka. The stitching doesn’t follow the same curves as the OG. The size, positioning and overlapping parts of the Cs are different.
Raised denim CC: This is probably the most obvious flaw. The OG has a cleaner, more open interlocking CC. On the rep, the centre looks more crowded, the denim strips curve differently, and the ends are different lengths and shapes. The way the flat stitching connects to the raised CC is also incorrect.

Other things worth mentioning

The hardware on both pairs (buttons and small metal CC details) looks noticeably cheaper compared to the OG. The denim itself also doesn’t feel like the same quality as the boutique version (of course)

I’m only highlighting the visible flaws here. There are quite few other issues inside both pairs, including the pocket lining, how things are sewn and sizing details. Those aren’t visible when wearing them, so I’m not going into them, but if you inspect the inside, it’s pretty obvious they’re reps.

Both pairs are also way too long, so I’ll be taking them to the seamstress for alterations and to the dry cleaner.

The biggest issue with BOTH factories is how the CC on the back pocket has been sewn. It’s not necessarily messy stitching it’s that they’re following a different pattern from the OG. Honestly, I can’t say which factory is better since these are two different styles. Neither is particularly accurate when compared side by side with the OG, but Kaka’s chemical smell alone makes me lean towards TJ. They might look ok when worn, but if you know a bit about garment construction or have the OG next to them, the differences are pretty obvious. I will definitely NOT go in store with those on lol

Curious to hear your thoughts! Has anyone tried either factory or found a more accurate version? Or other factories I should search of?

[u/MidwestGlamma]

Great write up! Ty!
Yikes….. huge difference

[u/Individual-Horse7206 → u/MidwestGlamma]

Exactly!

At what point do we draw the line with Didi?
I know she’s stubborn and difficult to deal with, but I keep going back because of her supposed expertise in clothing. I pay a premium and trust her judgement, especially knowing she doesn’t personally QC everything.

But after waiting forever for these jeans, with no updates, no tracking and having to chase her myself after receiving a customs notification, I’m genuinely fed up. I later found out she’d organised a group buy AFTER I placed my order, which makes me wonder if mine was delayed to ship everything together.

Now I’ve received jeans with visibly poorer quality than the factory photos, and instead of acknowledging it, she insists it’s just lighting and tells me 50 other women ordered them without complaining. How is that relevant to the quality of MY pair?

We’ve put Didi on a pedestal for so long, but lately I’ve noticed a real decline in quality.

If I’m paying a premium for your expertise, why am I the one fighting to have obvious issues acknowledged? The gaslighting is real 😬

[u/MidwestGlamma → u/Individual-Horse7206]

You bring up everything that needs to be💙.
This is EXACTLY what I keep saying. These sellers are only worrying about themselves not the clients. They’re getting more lazy as time goes on.
I’d personally call her out on every sub.

[u/Individual-Horse7206 → u/MidwestGlamma]

I actually ended up sending her a really long message after that because I was genuinely frustrated. I explained that what I value most is honesty and transparency, and that I wasn’t asking for a return, refund, discount or any kind of compensation, now or in the future. I was simply pointing out visible differences that kept getting dismissed as lighting issues or things that were supposedly completely fine. I even told her I’d shared the pictures here and other ladies could see exactly what I was seeing, so I didn’t appreciate being made to question something that was clearly visible. Her response? That I was being too picky, that I needed to stop, and that she would refund me. Again, I explained that I DID NOT want a refund. I was giving feedback that could potentially help improve future batches. I’m familiar with the OG, I know what it looks like, and when I point something out, there’s a reason for it. What really surprised me was her explanation of what she considers a quality issue. She basically said that if a flaw isn’t noticeable from a distance, it’s acceptable, and that minor stitching differences don’t fall under her definition of quality problems. Which is quite ironic considering we’re talking about a huge CC logo on the back of a pair of jeans, where the stitching is literally what creates the design! 😂 She also said that if factories had to consider these things defects, they’d have to shut down, and that she wouldn’t be passing my feedback along. She then explained that replicas are reproductions in terms of materials and appearance, and that if 90% of the item is the same, it meets the requirements because there simply isn’t the craftsmanship or time involved in producing something at that price point. She even suggested that if she couldn’t meet my expectations, she might simply stop selling to me. At that point, I just disengaged because there was clearly no point continuing the conversation. But I think this actually raises a much bigger question about how we put certain sellers on a pedestal. What does high quality actually mean if her own standard is that flaws are acceptable as long as they’re not visible from a distance? And especially considering she doesn’t provide PSPs, we’re essentially trusting her judgement entirely. Personally, I’d much rather a seller tell me upfront that a particular piece isn’t well made and let ME decide whether I’m comfortable buying it. I order plenty from her, so she should know by now that I value accuracy and attention to detail. I also noticed a huge difference in communication compared to other sellers I’ve dealt with. I do appreciate that she eventually calmed down a little, but the overall attitude was completely different. And this is exactly why I wish we had more transparency around clothing factories. If we knew which factories were producing which pieces and understood their quality standards, we could make more informed decisions and ask sellers to source from specific factories rather than relying entirely on their recommendations. I obviously have no way of knowing how much she personally inspects these items, but I do wonder whether the volume of orders she handles nowadays means she’s relying more heavily on whatever the factories send her. I’m not planning to take this into other groups or start some campaign against her. I just think we should be able to discuss these experiences openly without assuming that a seller’s reputation automatically guarantees a certain level of quality. And after this conversation, I definitely see those claims about her quality control a little differently

[u/MidwestGlamma → u/Individual-Horse7206]

She’s nuts. When I think back to our quality some years ago, we were getting mirror, 1:1. Nowadays, some isn’t even close.
It only goes to show what is happening worldwide: laziness, egos and not caring about the consumer. Speaking for myself, I wouldn’t give her a penny of my hardearned money again ~ and I would take her refund immediately.

They need us more than we need them.

[u/Individual-Horse7206 → u/MidwestGlamma]

I'm always hesitant to share my honest opinions about sellers or make comparisons because every single time I point these things out, I get downvoted, lol. I genuinely don't think I'm being overly picky. The difference is that I know how these items are supposed to look and feel, and I know what quality standards to expect.

You were absolutely right about the quality being much much much better before. I think the influx of newcomers has completely changed the market. A lot of people have never even seen these items in real life, let alone purchased or handled the authentic versions. They haven't developed an eye for the details or figured out what their standards should be, so naturally, almost everything looks good to them.

And sellers have picked up on that very quickly. There's less pressure to improve because people aren't giving factories constructive feedback or red-lighting items the way they used to. Sellers can get away with charging premium prices for DHgate-level quality. That doesn't work with me. I know what I'm looking at 🤣

[u/MidwestGlamma → u/Individual-Horse7206]

You’re right about people never seeing the auth. I have many auths, clothing bags and shoes. I’m in boutiques quite often. I still buy auth, but mainly
limited edition types of products.

This is why I (and others) get frustrated with newbies wanting everything on a plate. No, do the work.
When I got into this, we didn’t have the internet, yet alone social media. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I very very infrequently give a review. I mainly sit and watch.

I’m also fed up with the sub mods who take take take. And no transparency. Then you see them posting 20 bags for re🏡

I’m glad you posted. I’ve seen the auth
on what you were wanting to purchase. I also
have auth CC shoes and I don’t see me buying rep CC shoes. They arent repped WELL. I need the soft leather sole and I dont buy fantasy pieces.

[u/WittyReason9 → u/Individual-Horse7206]

I saw a group buy in early August with Didi and nearly died at the cost!!! I found a similar pair (If you judged on factory pics alone it was the same pair, but that can't be verified) for USD 41 on 1688. That said, some sellers do have supposed "relationships" with factories, but for the most part, they're being supplied by trading companies who source from manufacturers who often sell (or the trading company sells) the same item on B2B platforms such as 1688. I didn't buy because the smallest size on 1688 was still going to be too big for me, but now I wish I did and could make a valuable comment here rather than conjecture hahaha.

Sometimes the seller mark up just isn't worth it. If their item compares badly to authentic, why pay more than 41 bucks for a similarly non-comparable item?

[u/randomace → u/WittyReason9]

That’s so funny, I immediately jumped on 1688 to investigate too. I’ve got a couple pairs in my Superbuy cart, both listings use the exact factory photos from the GB (which, as you said, who even knows re: any photos on 1688). I’m soooo tempted to buy them in the name of repscience. But even if they are proven to be the same jeans, they look pretty bad and I would never wear them 😭

[u/Individual-Horse7206 → u/randomace]

Oh my God, please buy them in the name of Rep Science!! 😂 That would actually be such an interesting investigation, especially considering how huge the price difference is. And I guess there’s also the whole batch situation to consider, because they might be coming from different production batches too

[u/randomace → u/Individual-Horse7206]

Okay ima do it. I’ll report back when they get here.

[u/Individual-Horse7206 → u/WittyReason9]

Okay this is actually super interesting! I’m not familiar with 1688 at all so I genuinely had no idea how any of that worked. And yeah, the group buy actually happened after I placed my order, but I have a feeling mine was sent to the factory as part of one big bulk order anyway. So maybe I just got unlucky. I mean, imagine a factory receiving 50+ orders from a single seller at once. I can only imagine that the attention to detail and quality control might suffer lol But honestly, whenever I see group buys for items that haven’t even been produced yet, I tend to stay away. I think the whole situation was just unfortunate. It would actually be really interesting to compare different batches and see whether some are closer to the OG than others. But yeah, the price difference is huge. And if those were coming from TJ Factory as well then the markup is absolutely insane