Dupes are everywhere nowadays. When scrolling through TikTok, there is always an “Amazon version” of a look. It's the same style, but often half the price. Viral fashion trends are being copied overnight, leading many of us to ask: when did copying become normal?

Not too long ago, this kind of imitation had a very different name: knockoffs. Throughout the late 20th century and into the early 2000s, fashion knockoffs were widely associated with counterfeit culture and often carried a negative stigma in the industry. Knockoffs once carried real stigma: 

According to Throughline’s “Make Knock-Offs Stigmatized Again,” and Mishcon de Reya’s analysis of dupe culture,  today’s dupe culture is widely normalized, a sharp contrast to earlier eras when knockoffs were closely associated with counterfeits and broadly condemned. Counterfeits, which are unauthorized replicas designed to deceive consumers, were actively fought by luxury brands through lawsuits and anti-counterfeiting measures to protect design integrity and trademarks. Today, similar copying behavior has been reframed as “duping” and is often celebrated on social media as smart shopping rather than theft, highlighting how cultural attitudes toward imitation have shifted significantly over time.

What Is Dupe Culture?

Dupe culture is often framed as accessible fashion. Mass brands recreate trending designs at lightning speed, driven by algorithms that reward what is already popular. If something performs well online, it is reproduced quickly and sold cheaply. But in that rush, something essential gets lost.

Dupes remove the story behind a design, such as all the hours of sketching, prototyping, failing, and refining. What remains is a hollow version of the original, detached from the person who imagined it.

Visual comparison shared by POPFLEX founder Casey Ho during her legal battle over copied designs. 

A Real-Life Example: POPFLEX / Blogilates

Cassey Ho, founder of Blogilates and her activewear brand POPFLEX, experienced the effects of dupe culture firsthand when one of her original, thoughtfully engineered designs was copied by larger companies almost immediately after launch. 

What followed was a long and emotionally draining legal battle. She ultimately won and successfully patented her design, but not without significant personal and financial cost. According to a detailed legal breakdown by Nixon Peabody, Ho documented the process publicly, including a legal update shared on her Instagram, where she explained the challenges of protecting her work and navigating intellectual property law.

Her story matters because it shows that creativity does not survive on visibility alone. It needs protection. Without it, independent designers carry the risk while copycats reap the reward.

The Impact of Dupes

For designers, dupe culture leads to burnout, loss of ownership, and hesitation to innovate.

For the industry, it creates less originality, more sameness, and endless trend recycling.

For consumers, it offers lower prices, but often at the expense of quality, transparency, and a meaningful connection to what they wear.

Why Authenticity Matters

Fashion has always been more than a product — it is identity. Original designs tell stories about intention, craftsmanship, and vision. Dupes erase authorship and flatten those stories into disposable trends. In a world full of copies, authenticity becomes radical.

Our Thoughtful Design

At Ayana Active, the focus is on slow design and intentional choices. Purpose over trends. Creating pieces meant to last, not just perform in an algorithmic moment. Every design is an act of care — not replication.

Final Thoughts

Every purchase is a vote for the kind of industry we want and the creativity we choose to protect. Originality does not just shape style; it shapes the future of fashion.

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