Sahara Mara / 10 August 2025 / Categories: Product and Brands, Brands, Branded Products, Opinions, Internet, Online Retail, Useful Guides

I got duped by Limited Edition Lacoste APC socks

I learned how to spot a fake and here’s what I found out

I love fashion, I love expensive fashion and I love a tennis brand. I have written about Lacoste and their long peak baseball caps before, I love a Lacoste cap, Lacoste are probably my favourite tennis brand and I like my branded socks too. I am always interested in Lacoste collabs especially as the pieces released are usually limited edition and become quite collectible, something I really like, having something tough to copy or get your hands on.

French lifestyle fashion brand Apc focusing on high quality within minimalist design have collaborated with loads of people. the American workwear brand Carhartt springs to mind. They also collaborated with Lacoste on a series of socks, bags and caps for 2022 Roland Garros tennis tournament in Paris no longer available and highly collectible.

The range was launched May 2022 (ahead of the 2022 French Open / Roland-Garros tournament).

A.P.C. – known for minimalist French fashion and Lacoste – iconic French sportswear brand, deeply tied to tennis and Roland-Garros brought out some amazing pieces which were immediately duped in China.

I have been in search of some of the socks no longer available and discovered uncovered a few fakes along the way which I have to say aren’t totally terrible if you don’t have to pay too

much money.

The key differences for me are when it comes to the finish, when you look inside the socks the dupes have loads of loose threads and tend to run a lot smaller in size than the real thing.

The dupes don’t have the green apc crocodile on the foot and although have the white Lacoste card holding them don’t come individually wrapped in a Lacoste resealable plastic bag either.

I have also noticed the dupes are available in a turquoise green not actually released by APC Lacoste, the official colours were pastels pink and blue, white and khaki green.

The biggest giveaway is the serial number on dupes, this serial number appears on all colours of fakes and is likely the key indicator your socks came from DHgate or another Chinese dupe website.

Here’s the serial number to look out for if you are looking for authentic APC Lacoste socks from 2022

RA 1801 OP WTW 35/38

You are going to find this number on APC Lacoste dupes regardless of colour.

The serial number on the authentic pink pair is

RA 1802 00 M5U 35/38

The serial number for an authentic blue pair is

RA 1802 00 A3Q 39/42

When you see a dupe next to the authentic pair it’s very easy to see the difference in the pastel colours. Not so obvious on the white one except for no green apc logo on the foot. If they don’t have the croc branding on the sole then you are looking at a fake. Hope this helps.