This post was originally published on the author’s substack, unCLUTCH’d.
Dupe culture has made copying something to be proud of and made paying full price seem naive.
It has also quietly changed what it means to be original and invent something, because if the reward for making something new is watching everyone else sell it for less, I’m not sure how many people will keep bothering.
It has changed how we treat not being able to afford something, too. We’ve gone from accepting it to refusing to go without the thing we want.
Candidly, some days I wonder whether being an inventor was the hardest path I could’ve taken. I spent four years exploring and testing countless formulas and packaging prototypes, chasing a standard that only existed in my imagination, for a product nobody knew they wanted yet.
After that, I had to convince customers to try it, teach them how to use it and, brick by brick, build trust and a market where there wasn’t one before.
Then, a few years later, faceless cash-grabbing copycats decided to bottle up a concoction of crap and got to skip all the hard bits. Going first also means watching everyone else realise there was money to be made.
When Did Buying A Dupe Become Normal?
Not that long ago, buying a knockoff was something we kept to ourselves. Now every woman and her cat is on TikTok finding the cheaper version of whatever’s popular this week, and we cheer for whoever finds it like they’ve cracked the Enigma code.
I understand why it’s so popular, and nobody should feel guilty for wanting nice things, so this isn’t a dig at anyone trying to make their money go further.
What bothers me is what the culture ends up rewarding, because the copier never has to create any demand. They just inherit it. The dupe gets all the upside of the idea and none of the risk of having it.
It’s worse when the copy is bad. All CLUTCH dupes are genuine rubbish that simply does not work, and when someone buys one and it fails, it drags down the credibility of the whole category. So the original is left protecting that reputation, while the imitation happily cashes in on demand it did nothing to earn.
Whatever Happened To simply Not Being Able To Afford Something?
To be clear, I’m not saying anyone should buy things they can’t afford.
I’m asking whether we now expect that pretty much anything for sale should be available to us at whatever price we’ve decided we’re willing to pay.
It used to be completely ordinary to see something, love it, realise it was out of reach, and get on with our lives. Social media has somehow turned wanting something into expecting it.
Historically, when money is tight, we trade down. What’s interesting about dupe culture is that none of us feel like we’re trading down anymore.
We still want the designer silhouette, the viral product, the dress everyone’s wearing. We just want it for $90 instead of $290, and the marketing promises it’s the EXACT same product when it truly isn’t.
The fashion industry is notorious for this grubby behaviour. Take Après Studio’s bubble dress, for example. We saw the world fall in love with that distinct silhouette and fabric and within five minutes versions of it were everywhere.
The modern-day shopper doesn’t think “I can’t afford that, so I’ll sit this trend out”. The thought is closer to “who’s making something similar for less?” A seemingly small but almighty capitalist mindset shift.
Will Copying Win?
Innovation is expensive, slow and fraught with risk. If the market’s reaction to anything desirable is to immediately undercut it, that’s a pretty strange incentive structure we’ve built for ourselves.
I see it with investors too. They’ll back the millionth supplement brand hoping it’s the next Nutrafol and overlook the trailblazers operating in categories with no competitors at all. It pushes founders and investors alike towards a perceived quick win, and eventually we end up with an oversubscribed market full of absolute shit.
That said, I don’t think original thinkers are going anywhere. Founders who innovate will keep innovating and rise above the noise, while the copycats will always be in dirty wind. If anything, that makes originality more valuable than ever.
I’m not going to tell anyone to stop buying dupes. But every purchase is a small vote for the kind of market we want, and I’d like to live in one where the original always gets its flowers.
That’s all for now,
Annabel x
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