Videos
Note: don’t post a legit check request in the comments here. Make a new post please! That way we can keep this comment section as questions/comments relevant to this post
Winter is approaching, so we are seeing more authentication requests than usual. I'm writing this pinned post so that everyone can do some preliminary checks before posting, to hopefully streamline the authentication process. This is not a comprehensive authentication guide, but it provides some basic checks everyone can do regardless of experience.
Multi-Language Label (MLL)
Fake style tagA common mistake that counterfeiters make is that they have generic style tags without specific product information. The above tag has the style, size, and colour information left blank. If you ever see this, there is a 99.9% chance it is fake.
Hologram
Left is fake, right is real (prior to Fall 2017) Left is fake, right is real (after Fall 2017)What do these fake holograms have in common? Both of them are upside down! This is a common flaw on counterfeits. Also note that there are two types of holograms based on year, so make sure you compare yours to the right one.
NOTE: The lack of the blue Downmark tag is NOT a problem on newer jackets. See https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaGoose/wiki/index/ for more details.
QR Code
If the tags have a QR code on them, it is 100% fake. It should not scan to the Canada Goose website. The authentic code is on the right, which simply displays the serial code. If your jacket has neither, it just means it is prior to Fall 2017 which is not a worry on its own.
Left is fake, right is realPackaging
A lot of counterfeits use the same, fake packaging. If you ever see any of the following, it is a good idea to stay away.
Fake PackagingHere is an example of real packaging:
Real PackagingMain differences: there is no huge "Canada Goose" text and logo on the real plastic bag. The fur is also not separately bagged. There may or may not be a garment bag included. The garment bag is very long with zippers and handles at the top. There is also buttons on the back of the bag, allowing you to fold it in half to carry in a duffle-bag manner. The older version of the garment bag does not have the repeated "Canada Goose" text along the handle or trim, but looks largely the same otherwise. The jacket may also come in a black cardboard box. The older version was white.
Disclaimer: in most cases, fake packaging means fake coat (why would someone sell a real jacket with fake packaging?). However, in some cases, a fake jacket can be sold in real packaging (or fake packaging that looks like real packaging), so make sure not to only look at the packaging in that case.
Conclusion
That's all for this post, hope it was informative. I also have a short wiki page written here: https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadaGoose/wiki/index/. This page has some frequently asked questions as well as some images of the different sizes of badges. If you have any suggestions for improvements to this subreddit, feel free to leave a comment. Thank you for reading!
Canada Goose has went through many different iterations in its designs, and there is a lot of misinformation online about what makes a jacket fake or real. For example, some big ones are:
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people automatically think the dash in "canada-goose.com" means fake
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people thinking a missing blue Downmark tag is a concern
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people thinking a missing tag baggy is a concern
I'm writing this post so that you can see how the brand has evolved throughout the years. This should also be helpful for you to assess the age of your jacket. Note that this post doesn't contain any advice specific to legit checking and authenticity; please refer to Legit Checking Pre-Checks and create a new post if you have questions surrounding a particular jacket's authenticity.
Note: most of the badges on the left are the regular size. See the Wiki for information on badge sizes. This guide is also mainly for parkas. Knitwear and lightweight jackets may have some variations with what is seen below. Canada Goose usually makes updates in the fall of a given year. For overlapping ranges (e.g. 2015-2017 and 2017-2019), the "ending year" usually means that the jackets manufactured throughout the spring and summer of that year had the design, while they transitioned over in the fall of that year.
1998 - 2006 2006-2009 2010-2019 2019-PresentAll of the above year ranges are gathered through several years of research and looking through web archives online. However, I don't cover jackets prior to 1997 as information from before then is much harder to come across. In general, any jackets with the branding "Snow Goose" would be manufactured 1983 or later. If anyone has some more specific pointers on vintage jackets, that would be appreciated!
Hopefully you find this post informative!
So just out of curiosity do all CG jackets have their own serial numbers? I’m aware the jackets have style number and other information about the type of jacket but are there specific serial numbers for jackets? Jus wonder if this might be a way to easily authenticate a jacket.