Anyone who’s been to an ITC in Jakarta has seen all sorts of fake Nike shoes, from the obvious fakes with logos like ‘Mike’ to sneakers that are uncannily similar to those you’d find at an official Nike shop.
Yesterday, the police raided a warehouse in Duren Sawit and confiscated three trucks worth of fake Nike shoes that fall into the latter category.
One local man, Darno, said the warehouse used to be a large abandoned house but some people moved in two years ago and started usiing it to store fake Nike shoes.
“I knew it was a Nike shoes warehouse. Everyday trucks come in to store shoes in the warehouse. And then one or two days later smaller cars would come and transport some of the shoes elsewhere, but I don’t know where,” he said, as quoted by Vivanews yesterday.
East Jakarta Police Chief M Agung Budijono confirmed the raid and said that they had received reports about illegal activities in the warehouse from Nike license holders. However, he refused to reveal who ran the warehouse or what factory was producing the fake sneakers as the case is still under investigation.
Even a bust this big is unlikely to put a dent in the supply of fake Nikes for sale in Jakarta. if you don’t want to support illegal activity, we suggest you buy your Nikes from official stores (but only if you can live with the fact that Indonesian factories contracted to make shoes for Nike were accused of abusing their workers not so long ago).
