The New Pandemic – The Rise of Dupes

Forget about COVID. It’s time to address the silent battle across TikTok, the rise of dupes. I’ve fallen victim to it myself. Anything can be a dupe: clothing, makeup, perfume, shoes, even restaurants, you name it. It’s a never-ending cycle. Dupes are products that are created as a more affordable and cheaper quality replicate of expensive brands. And when I say replicate, I mean it. Brands go full out when creating dupes to the extent where the packaging is the same.

It starts with someone coming up on your TikTok For You Page, and with TikTok’s talented algorithm, you’ll see more. It seems like all brands are becoming the same, and originality has just gone right out the window. The online world has turned into a platform where we want to copy trends rather than showcase originality and new ideas. Brands see what another brand is doing and then go ahead to make an exact copy of it for cheaper. Fast fashion is everywhere now; it is a trap you can’t escape, even if you’re Generation Z like me.

One main contribution to the purchase of dupes is influencers dupe hauls. After seeing our favourite creators use them, we assume that the dupe must reflect the original product well, even though it’s like half the price. If your favourite influencer is using it, it must be good, right? Or is that just us being delusional?

There are those positives to dupes, such as affordability and the idea that it involves people in trends without breaking their banks. It could even bring brands more customers, as there are people who would rather pay for the real product as its more trustworthy.

According to my For You Page, my $90 Kookai top I purchased is on Shein for $5! And my $70 Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter is recreated by MCO Beauty, so I had to try. It looks identical, not only by its packaging but its application. I now use it every day, but I do think, Why is it so cheap? Realistically, does it compare to the Charlotte Tilbury? Charlotte Tilbury herself doesn’t think so.

The dupe culture has gone to the extent where it’s now a popular trend on TikTok. The trend is where you walk around shopping centres yelling out “dupe” to a product that looks the same as an expensive brand. However, it’s not just a normal yell; they yell it so chaotically and unhinged that people across the other side of the whole shopping centre could hear. It’s a bit absurd, isn’t it?

The dupe pandemic will always be around, and a lot of us will continue to purchase them. It’s up to brands to try to escape replicating others and release their unique products and branding.