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Beware of Fake Heelys

Since Heelys first appeared in the United States as a patent-protected invention, round Christmas 2000, the shoe has been routinely, and rather shoddily copied. These imitation shoes have all been cheap, illegal copies coming from either China or Korea, and infringing on Heelys patented intellectual property rights. Most often they look as bad as their quality :cheap, cheesy, and nasty.

Legal issues aside, however, the fake shoes are a problem from both a quality, and hence, a safety point-of-view. Whilst genuine Heelys shoes have to be subjected to rigorous testing under two different sets of international safety standards (relating to athletic shoes, and to roller skate wheels), the fake shoes have to meet no such set of standards. Quality control is also a big issue with fakes since they have to be manufactured in secrecy, at undisclosed locations, which may often be raided; at which point, the manufacturing base must shift, and the people making the fake shoes must accept whatever quality - inferior or otherwise - that is produced.

This impacts on safety markedly. Many of the shoes that we have seen are made from inferior materials and, quite often, the wheels will not fit the housing/bracket of the shoe in which they are fitted. Not only are these cheesy imitations which, from a style point-of-view, no one would want to be seen dead in, they are also, from our point-of-view, a safety hazard.

People who have purchased the fakes shoes have often found that, if they have a problem with them (: stitching coming apart; wheels falling apart...) that they cannot return them to the outlet from where they bought them, and they are unable to purchase replacement parts. Please note, however : Heelys replacement parts do not fit any of the fake brands of roller shoes.

Beware : look out for these fake shoes. Brands (which we have seen) and are to be avoided include : Heatys, Heebys, Cwad, X-Fly, X-Roller, E-Roller, Cindys, Milu, Giant, Hybrid, and others. This, however, does not exhaust the list. IF THE SHOES DO NOT EXPRESSLY SAY "HEELYS", DO NOT BUY THEM.

(To be perfectly clear) CAVEAT EMPTOR : HEELYS HAS NO ASSOCIATION WHATSOEVER WITH ANY OF THE ABOVE FAKE BRANDS OF ROLLER SHOES; WE DO NOT ENDORSE THEIR PRODUCT, AND THESE FAKES HAVE NOTHING WHATSOEVER TO DO WITH THE "HEELYS"BRAND OF SHOE. HEELYS CANNOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR FAKE PRODUCT WHICH HAS BEEN PURCHASED, AND WITH WHICH EITHER A FAULT OR ACCIDENT OCCURS.

From www.heelys.co.nz