Fake Alpinestar Gloves

Discussion in 'Clothing, Gadgets & Equipment' started by RichW, Aug 1, 2025 at 6:18 PM.

  1. I just thought I would create a thread regarding some gloves I recently bought. I really like Alpinestar gear, and so naturally wanted some Alpinestar gloves. Despite the cost being irrelevant I found the cheaper SP8 version 3 gloves the best fit, so they were the ones I went for.

    Not wanting to pay over the odds I found the cheapest price on eBay. Most retailers were selling for £110, but this seller was selling for £65! Bargain! OK, so I know what you are all going to say, well what did I expect? I just thought this seller isn’t fussed about the margins and just wants to make a smaller profit.

    More later on this seller and the other two big give aways that I later picked up on. Suffice to say I was blinded by the potential savings.


    So heres the gloves …


    [​IMG]IMG_1164 by RichW426, on Flickr
     
  2. I was actually really relieved when they turned up as within a day or so of ordering them I had received an email from Ebay saying that the seller’s account had been suspended, and that I was not to worry and that the item should still arrive, but if it didn’t I was protected.


    I tried them on and they fitted well, just like the ones in the shop that I tried on. But at the same time they felt kinda light and not that robust. I compared them to my old Alpinestar gloves which are over ten years old and thought hell, I think i’d rather crash in my old gloves than these new ones!


    I looked at the label that was fastened to them. Well that was wrong for starters, it says “GP Pro Glove” and the reverse side even states “Kangaroo Leather Palm” – well I knew for a fact that isn’t correct with these gloves. Something was off here.


    Not been 100% happy with the gloves I decided to purchase some more from a recognized dealer – Sportsbike shop in the UK. This promptly arrived and straight away I could see differences in the packing. Surprisingly the plastic bag wasn’t as good, but other than that everything was in order, including a CE booklet that was missing from the first (fake) set of gloves. Heres the genuine pair, note also the paper on the touch screen enabled fingers…


    [​IMG]IMG_1163 by RichW426, on Flickr
     
  3. The first thing that struck me was the knuckle guard vents on the genuine were bigger than the fakes…

    Gen:

    [​IMG]IMG_1165 by RichW426, on Flickr


    Fake:

    [​IMG]IMG_1166 by RichW426, on Flickr


    I then realised that the printing was different. The fake had glossy printing, the genuine matt. The “n” on the Alpinestar is also filled in white on the genuine gloves. I also noted the print carries further across the knuckles on the genuine gloves too:


    [​IMG]IMG_1167 by RichW426, on Flickr
     
  4. Side by side you can see the “DFS” in embossed on the genuine gloves and just lightly printed on the fake. You can also see colour differences on the vents and printing:


    [​IMG]IMG_1172 by RichW426, on Flickr


    The wrist securing strap there a few differences, the main one is the three stamped lines in the genuine glove:


    [​IMG]IMG_1173 by RichW426, on Flickr
     
  5. The vent holes are larger on the genuine glove:


    [​IMG]IMG_1176 by RichW426, on Flickr


    And this was another thing I couldn’t understand when I got the fake gloves. The tag was on the inside of the wrist making pulling the gloves on difficult. The genuine ones the tag is on top of the wrist out of the way. The printing on the genuine gloves tag is also clearer but you might not really tell that unless side by side.


    [​IMG]IMG_1175 by RichW426, on Flickr


    I also carried out another test with a LED torch inside the glove shining through the cloth material on the thumb stretch panel. Heres the fake:


    [​IMG]IMG_1180 by RichW426, on Flickr


    And the genuine:


    [​IMG]IMG_1181 by RichW426, on Flickr



    There was also a weight a difference. The genuine pair were 250grams in weight compared to the fake at 206 grams. So all in all quite a few differences. The fake gloves also didn’t smell very much of leather. Having said all that though if you weren’t familiar with motorcycle gloves (I’ve been biking 40 years now) you may well not even pick up on the fact you had a fake pair of gloves. They do look well made with neat stitching. Some of the give aways were obvious like with wrong label, but other things not so unless side by side with genuine gloves.


    Earlier today I received confirmation that my refund is on its way back from ebay for the fake gloves. I returned them to the seller a long with my reason why. They had three days to respond which they didn’t so Ebay stepped in with the refund. Not sure how that works with the seller account suspended but its good they’ve done it.


    So what can we take away from this? Well the obvious : Always buy from a reputable source. If its too cheap to be true then it probably isn’t genuine. If everyone else is selling at one price and theres someone else far cheaper that’s a good give away. Also look at the the delivery time, and this is probably where I am kicking myself the most. The seller I bought from wanted ten days to send them out. Theres currently another seller on ebay advertising these gloves for the same £65 and they also state “Due to the need for inspection and packaging of the goods, it will take approximately 9 to 15 days for delivery after placing the order. Thank you.” … in hind sight its bloody obvious isn’t it? You order the gloves and pay for them, they then order the gloves in and then send you them out when they receive them from goodness knows where. This seller like the one I purchased from is also new to Ebay with only a few sales to their name. Another red light!


    Thanks for getting this far, I just wanted to make as many people aware as I could. I would also assume that the counterfeiters are only going to get more and more accurate with their products, making them harder to spot. Be careful out there!
     
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  6. Thanks. That was a very thorough comparison and expose of the fake item.

    I was wondering though, do you think that the fakes were OK gloves? Sure its wrong to rip off someone elses brand, and clearly the actual Alpinestars are better for all the reasons you stated. But the fakes are about 40% less!
     

  7. You cant put a price on your hands. They felt OK but ultimately they didn't feel as substantial as my old gloves, and thats what set in the initial doubts. The SP-8 glove is classed as a "Sport" glove so isn't the toughest of gloves. I wanted a proper race glove but none fitted that well, hence getting the SP-8. So as it stands I've not quite got the protection I wanted, and certainly wouldnt want to lower that further by taking a chance on a non-genuine glove.
     
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  8. I know what you mean, and we all set our own standards and won't accept something below it. But we're all different, your gloves may not be strong enough for me -or vice versa. Of course there's also those that say if you really valued your hands, you wouldn't ride a motorbike at all.
     
  9. As someone who put a carving knife across all four fingers of my left hand (fortunately not my dominant hand), damaging nerves and severing a tendon and an artery, I can only second that.
     
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