Today's op-ed compares the AJ1 Retro High Bred Toe (555088-610), released in December 2018. Since its launch, high quality replicas of this colorway have often been marketed as "original without shoe box" or "original without original shoe box", with sellers claiming they are real copies leaked from Nike appointed factories. 

Shoe box - the number "8" below "USA" on the replica box is slightly thinner, while the "8" on the real box is round and bottom heavy. The 555088-610 product code should have the numbers closely printed together; numbers on the replica box, as you can see from the picture, are printed too far apart. 

The date stamp on the shoe box is an indicator for many things, such as the factory in which the shoe was manufactured. In this particular case, the 'Bred Toe' was made in factory XC, but the replica uses the stamp design from another factory (factory QD), hence the different color and date format. 

Insole - real AJ 1s usually have transparent glue patterns on the back of the insole. This replica insole has yellow strips instead, and the material used is more porous and evidently of a lesser quality. Real insoles are smooth, and not bumpy. 

Flipping to the front of the insole, the replica insole is a darker shade of grey, almost black, and the stitches around it are not as dense compared to the real shoe. Stitches on real insole are tighter, shorter at the heel, and the thread used is of a brighter, yellow-white color. This is a characteristic of the 'Bred Toe'. The glue perforations are also deeper on the real shoe, whereas the replica's perforations look random. 

We haven't shared all the details in this post, to prevent replicas from catching up. Head over to LEGIT APP if you have any questions or a pair of AJs that need authenticating!