The Most Hilarious Skechers Knockoffs

What can we possibly say about Skechers that hasn’t already been said in any of the number of lawsuits accusing the sneaker brand of ripping off models from more legit sportswear companies? Adidas accused Skechers of “freeloading” off its designs in 2016, Nike described Skechers as a brand that “often copies the successful products of others” in a complaint from 2019. Look, every big sneaker maker is guilty in some way of trying to steal sauce from the competition—never forget Nike’s (mercifully short lived) NMD competitor, the Lunarcharge Essential—but there’s something about the way Skechers so blatantly and consistently does it that is genuinely amusing. So, for your entertainment, we’ve gathered some examples of the most blatant Skechers ripoff sneakers.

There’s something almost impressive about the total lack of shame in the Skechers approach, in our opinion. Let’s get that part out of the way: any value judgments on the shoes shown here are totally based on the opinions of the Complex staff and are not empirical facts. We say that because we know very well that Skechers has a feisty legal team that’s ready to attack in the event of any ignoble mention of the brand.

But don’t take our word for it. Scroll down to see the shoes and tell us you can’t clearly see the source material. These are (in our opinion, of course) the wildest Skechers ripoffs on the market right now. Note that we’re actually cutting Skechers some slack by limiting it to “right now,” which excludes some heinous Yeezy and Springblade bites from the last decade.

Nike Air Monarch 4 vs. Skechers Durham Delck

I’m sure these would go triple platinum in my grandparent’s retirement community in Boynton Beach, Florida. Sometimes this genre of Skechers shoe is meant to appeal to the budget shopper by copying a popular shoe and making it cheaper. But unlike a number of the shoes on this list, the Durham Delck is literally only $10 less than an actual pair of Nike Monarchs, which it clearly draws from. For anyone that is about to buy a pair of these Durham Delcks, please reach out to Brendan Dunne and he’ll provide you with the $10 extra dollars to buy the Monarchs—his DMs are open. —Ben Felderstein

On Cloud 5 vs. Skechers Glide-Step Zefyr

Knockoffs? More like Knock-Ons. You just know there was no way Skechers was going to sit by and let On make all that money with its CloudTec sneakers and not try to grab a slice of the pie. Don’t be fooled here, there’s something a little off with these Ons. Roger Federer wept. —Brendan Dunne

Merrell Moab 3 Mid vs. John Deere x Skechers Arch Fit Tarver

These honestly might get a heck yeah from me. I guess beauty is the eye of the beholder. We’re looking at a Skechers x John Deere shoe that looks like a pair of Merrells. But as the late country singer Joe Diffie once opined, “The whole town said that he should've used red, but it looked good to Charlene in John Deere green .” —Matt Welty

Diamond Supply Co. x Nike SB Dunk Low vs. Skechers Koopa Court

Whoever designed this shoe at Skechers was extremely in their bag. They started off with a diet Dunk thing called the Koopa Court, which is actually not that offensive. What’s really disturbing is the colorway, which has a Tiffany-style robin egg blue color that brings to mind Diamond Supply Co’s classic SB Dunk collaboration from 2005. The result is a Russian nesting doll of meta copying—Diamond’s Dunk, which unofficially referenced Tiffany’s colors, gets Kirby swallowed up by Skechers and spat back out sans Swoosh logos. Now that Nike and Tiffany are proper collaborators , we wouldn’t be mad at seeing them both team up to come after Skechers. Get Nintendo in on the action for disrespecting King Koopa like that too. —Brendan Dunne

Hey Dude Wally vs. Skechers Proven Suttner

Unlike a lot of the shoes on this list, this copycat version provides more of a lateral move than a step down. Shame and taste are already out the window for wearers of Hey Dude sneakers, so homages come across more as “different” than “worse.” The moccasin toe construction combined with a Lunar-esque tooling clash just as bad as the originals, but if that’s what’s selling, Skechers isn’t about to let a market segment go unserved. —Zac Dubasik

Margiela Replica vs. Skechers Placer Camilo

This is totally a copy of the classic German Army Trainer, there’s really no debating that. We are going to cut Skechers a tiny bit of slack on this one though because the beloved trainer has already been endlessly knocked off— see the Margiela version , which is the most known GAT variant and is called the “Replica” for the sake of transparency. This isn’t the kind of intellectual property that’s going to get Skechers into any trouble—it’s not a design that one brand really owns at this point—so don’t expect these Army Trainers to be involved in any legal skirmishes. —Brendan Dunne

New Balance 801 vs. Skechers Vigor AT

This entry is less of direct copy and more of a “we heard you like New Balance so here are New Balance vibes” kind of shoe. The key elements are all here: gratuitous overlays, mixed materials, a busy tooling, and blocky, singular-letting branding slapped on the midfoot with little regard for how it actually flows with the design. The only place where Skechers missed the mark on this homage was naming it the Vigor AT rather than a random array of numbers. —Zac Dubasik

Nike Air Max 90 vs. Snoop Dogg x Skechers Uno

If an Air Max 90 ripoff wasn’t bad enough on its own, Skechers decided to turn things up a notch by slapping a Bored Ape on the side of the sneakers. Somehow, Snoop Dogg is involved in this monstrosity, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here and assume that he didn’t have much say in what it looks like. Unintentionally or not, the “Snoop Dogg Uno,” as they’re calling it, retailed for 90 bucks. But lucky for you, they’re almost 50 percent off now. Even better, you have four ridiculous color options to choose from. —Ben Felderstein

Nike React Presto vs. Skechers Bionic Trail

Nike’s Air Presto was introduced in 2000 and has been a part of its lifestyle lineup in the two-plus decades since. It’s a little niche; it’s never been as popular as shoes like the Air Force 1, but its longevity and influence allow it to sneak into “classic” status. The React Presto, on the other hand, was a fine shoe, but was here and gone in a relatively short timespan, serving as a vehicle for Nike’s then-new React foam tech. A 2020 collaboration with Undercover was probably the model’s most notable-albeit-fleeting moment, and one that Skechers has seemingly channeled here—four years after the rest of the sneaker world had forgotten about it. —Zac Dubasik

Converse All-Star Chuck Taylor vs. Skechers Snoop One

Skechers is hardly the first brand to offer its own take on the Chuck Taylor, but tapping a celebrity for endorsement makes this shoe feel particularly egregious—especially when the bandana print has already been used on Converse’s own collaborations. At least Snoop Dogg’s version of the Chuck features an update of sorts with its Slip-In technology, so the extra $30 over the real thing adds hands-free entry at least. Plus, if anyone has a license to do what they want with the Chuck Taylor, it’s Snoop. —Zac Dubasik