Entrupy Is Now Protecting Streetwear From Counterfeiting

Entrupy, the leading AI-powered authentication platform for luxury handbags and sneakers, is like a Gemological Institute of America for high-value products. Just as the GIA appraises diamond engagement rings, Entrupy is designed to sniff out fakes in the luxury goods landscape. The company has had a solution for handbags and sneakers, which it’s been implementing for the last 15 to 20 years. Now, Entrupy is turning its attention to apparel.

“We work largely in the secondhand and retail world protecting businesses from counterfeit luxury products because it’s been a huge scourge over the last 15 to 20 years,” said Vidyuth Srinivasan, CEO of Entrupy. “It’s probably peaked in the last five years since the COVID-19 pandemic. We work with thousands of businesses that are really large and really small. We have a huge breadth of customers in 90 different countries.”

The secondhand streetwear market is booming with clothing from top brands such as Chrome Hearts, Off-White, Palace, Fear of God, Supreme and Bape, and Entrupy plans to expand into more luxury apparel brands later this year.

“With resale shopping surging – particularly among Gen Z and young Millennials – counterfeit streetwear has become a growing concern,” said Srinivasan. “Entropy’s AI-powered solution, already trusted by retailers worldwide and verified on TikTok Shop, provides 99.86% accuracy for authentication, giving buyers and sellers added confidence in their transactions.”

A good example of a large platform is a TikTok shop, said Srinivasan, adding that a “tiny little pawn shop somewhere in Wyoming is an example of a small Entrupy customer.

“We have a huge breadth of customers in 90 different countries,” he added. “All we do is help them verify products that they have in front of them. So far, we’ve focused on luxury handbags and sneakers. The risk was high there. Now, we have an emerging category. A lot of our clients have asked about apparel, so we’re launching authentication for apparel today, especially high end apparel. Streetwear, luxury apparel, etc., has the exact same features that we provide for handbags and sneakers. We also have something unique that we call ‘the financial guarantee.’

The way Entrupy differs from the GIA is its financial guarantee. “If we call something authentic, and it’s disputed in the future or we called something authentic and we were wrong – we let a fake slip through our system – we reimburse that money and take possession of the item,” Srinivasan said. “Whatever the customer paid for the item, we reimburse that money and take possession of it.”

What does Entrupy do with the product? “One, we research it and study how we were beaten, because if the system’s being beaten then something that beat the system should be in the system,” he said. “That’s the benefit of AI. We’re constantly able to catch up with new fakes and new standards that the fakers have, which keeps the technology and algorithms extremely accurate and up-to-date.

“This builds a sense of trust,” Srinivasan said. “It almost works like insurance for our customers. They can use it with a peace of mind that even if they get it wrong we will take care of it. They don’t bear the risk.

“This is our only job,” Srinivasan said. “Our only job is to authenticate products, so we want to be really good at it. This kind of policy forces us to be really good at what we do. Which is why we have such a widespread customer base. We have a fair amount of credibility in the market. We’ve been doing this for the last 10 years.”

What should consumers be on the lookout for when buying luxury streetwear? Are there any telltale signs that an item is a fake?

“The first thing you shouldn’t do is look for telltale signs,” said Srinivasan. “There shouldn’t be anything on the product. If you’ve come that far you’ve probably already bought a counterfeit. Two things you want to look at is the credibility of the person who’s selling it, meaning where is it being sold. What kind of information do they have and what does the pricing look like?”

If something is priced too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true. “If it’s too cheap and they’re trying to give you a deal it’s probably a fake,” Srinivasan said. “There’s no reason for anyone online to give you a deal. Pricing can be an indicator, but it’s not always an indicator.

“Things have gotten so good that I can pass off fake product as real product online, which is why we’re launching this service,” Srinivasan added. “The other thing is to look for an Entrupy-verified certificate. All of our customers, if they list the product on marketplaces or anywhere they’re trying to sell, always accompany the item images with images of our certificate. It’s not me telling you it’s real, but a third party has verified it. You can go to our Entrupy web site and verify that the item has been certified and we can confirm that it’s the exact same item that we originally checked. It’s sort of a trust layer. That’s essentially how we function. We help authenticate products, but the value we provide is to add a layer of trust that makes these transactions smoother and easier. That’s why we work with marketplaces, retailers and resellers of all shapes and sizes. It’s almost a standard of trust – that’s how I would classify us.”

Entrupy charges retailers and sellers a fee on a per authentication basis but then rolls it up into a monthly subscription. “Because we only work with businesses, they’re always seeing inventory and it works out cheaper for them if they subscribe with us,” Srinivasan said. “It’s a very simple model. We don’t charge anything extra just because it’s a different type of customer. It’s a flat fee and despite that we still offer a financial guarantee.”