The term dupe (from duplicate) refers to products that deliberately replicate the aesthetics of luxury or highly recognizable items — such as handbags, footwear, perfumes, cosmetics, and furniture — without reproducing their word marks or logos. Unlike traditional counterfeiting, a dupe does not mislead consumers as to the origin of the product: it is purchased precisely because it is an openly acknowledged imitation and is often promoted on social media through explicit references to the original product (“dupe of…”, “alternative to…”).
The phenomenon has grown exponentially due to three main factors: the virality of content on TikTok and Instagram (the #dupe hashtag has generated billions of views); ultra-low-cost e-commerce platforms, which enable extremely rapid production cycles; and, more recently, generative artificial intelligence tools, which make it possible to analyse and replicate a designer’s lines, patterns, and distinctive stylistic features on an industrial scale and within very short timeframes.
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