As others have posted there are cheap copies of products and there are over runs that are produced in the same factory above and beyond the amount ordered by a company like North Face. If you spend anytime in a black market in China you will rarely see any of these products without a logo on them. Every company from North Face to Canada Goose, Lululemon ect. Are effected by this and these products are available worldwide. Not just in China.
They are illegal in China. The markets are regularly raided and shutdown. Most vendors are aware of the timing of the raids and the more expensive items are relocated before hand.
I try to avoid Amazon, but sometimes have found an item I purchased from elsewhere turned out to be thru’ Amazon. I am not happy when that occurs.
Doubt china cares much about knock offs. They can find one dissenter in a basement but not huge factories making knock off sneakers. 
It might be mostly for show and done to appease foreign companies but I can assure you that the markets are regularly raided and shutdown.
In the video, they talk about how it was reported and the seller is no longer selling it under the Level 6 name nor with their photos, but are selling it under the Chinese name. So seems it was pulled when reported.
They also said that after the review was done, they were sending the dry suit back for a refund.
I refuse to use Amazon. I buy direct from companies. I willingly spent £600 on my Palm drysuit as I kayak on the West coast of Scotland and have the North Atlantic to cope with. I would not buy fake, I value my life too much. I can always find other ways to economise to buy that which I need.
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The fact that amazon made them put the real name and use there own pictures is NOT ENOUGH. The seller should be permanently removed from amazon. Amazon is complicit other wise… Letting your return a fake item is not enough either. Full refund plus at least 50 percent off next order.
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Obviously Amazon doesn’t know how to run a business! For day to day stuff , they can’t be beat, esp now.
I buy my paddling gear from independent retailers .
Yeah, Amazon has only made Jeff Bezos the richest man in the world. I guess that must have been an accident. I don’t like some of their policies either (they list my book, even though I’ve never sold it through them), but you can’t argue with their success.
As for the Chinese knockoffs, I don’t have any sympathy for anyone who sees a high-end product advertised at a ridiculously low price and buys it. If it looks too good to be true, it invariably is. Yes, it’s false advertising, it’s wrong, and it shouldn’t be tolerated, but there would be no incentive to counterfeit items if there was nobody willing to buy them.
While Amazon can certainly ban a seller, they have no ability to impose fines for bad behavior.
Unfortunately, now that the US Postal Service has been basically destroyed by the previous administration, I have no choice but to order some things through Amazon if I need them in less than 2-3 weeks and can’t find them locally. Hopefully, that situation will be turned around soon.
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I didn’t think 600 was ridiculously low for a dry suit. NRS sells suits in that price range. Why would I think a level 6 suit on amazon at about 600 is ridiculous? It had me fooled. I didn’t buy it as I was just price shopping in case my old dry suit fails. Its an old kokatat which are NOT lifetime warrantied like some think they are. I MIGHT have bought this fake crap.
Now i know don’t ever bother with amazon. Which also rules out buying name brand batteries and memory cards and ram for PC, hard drives heck lots of stuff. If all they did is have this THIEF on amazon CORRECT his ad instead of permanently removing the thief amazon condones stealing . Yes I am pissed at Amazon . Can you tell.
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Like most things, there are good and bad about Amazon. I occasionally receive bonuses at work that I can turn into gift cards and I usually choose Amazon. In the past couple of weeks I ordered Kokatat dry pants and NRS Boundary boots for my wife; both of which actually shipped from Outdoor Play. I also ordered her a Level Six dry top for her but it has not yet arrived. I’ll obviously look it over very well when it gets here. She’s also getting a new Adventure Technology paddle that’s being shipped from a 3rd party seller. Last year I bought my Stohlquist drysuit through them and it’s a genuine item that I’m well pleased with.
Lots of businesses sell through Amazon so I hate to punish them because of the bad actors.
Kokatat not warrantied for life because of wear.
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No just age. 12 years. Kokatat is good and have heard of getting a new suit as old as 8 years but get over 10 years forget warranty as its outside its intended life I think was the wording. The suit just leaked slowing every were. NOT mine my friends. But mine is about 10 years old now. Old yellow blue and black one.
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Mine was near ten got a new suit.
I don’t think years has anything to do with it. Wear is frayed , worn , torn etc…the workmanship of the seams etc is warranted by Kokatat.
The de-lamination of the Gortex is warrantied by Gore. So Gore buys you a new suit. I don’t believe years counts, just if the suit is still not worn out , but instead de-laminated.
I had a Kokatat Gore-Tex dry top that I bought in 1999. It was $125, but because the shop had hung it on a rusty hanger it had a small hole in the shoulder so they sold it to me for $40. A bit of Aquaseal and it was good to go. Three years ago it was falling apart with the seam tape coming off. I called Kokatat to ask them what they recommended to fix it. They said it sounds like a warranty issue and asked me to send some pictures of it, which I did. They called back and said to send it in and they will take a look at it. A week later I got another phone call and they said it was beyond repair, they don’t make that model any more, and that the Kokatat Rogue is the closest that they had to it. They asked if that was alright and what color did I want. They sent it out that day. At the time it was $450 for the dry top.
The Gore warranty is lifetime against delamination or other defects. I’ve had three Gore-Tex items replaced, including a drysuit, one of which was 12 years old. Even if the company who made the garment is out of business or no longer uses Gore-Tex, they will replace it with a comparable garment from another manufacturer. In my case, they replaced a Stohlquist suit with a Kokatat. My Stohlquist was a Meridian-level suit, but when I asked the Gore rep what it would cost to upgrade to an Expedition, he said “nothing, just tell me what suit you want”.
That extraordinary level of service, combined the quality and durability of Gore products, is why I buy and recommend them. To me, it’s a case of getting more than you pay for.
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