Virtually every day I see multiple questions about brands with little or no profile or "Q rating"---with the question: is this brand legit?

Key note: this advice is mostly for US-based stores or stores that advertise to a US audience. I can't speak to what the signs are for overseas brands, since I don't have experience with those. My advice would be if you're in the US and shopping on a website that doesn't do business in the US or have a US presence, just be extra careful and read reviews.

First, let's dig into what is meant by legit:

--Will you get the item pictured?

--Will the item you get perform according to the price paid? (meaning, if it's mid-range, will it last more than one season)

--Will the item match the picture in terms of what's implied--meaning, will embroidery be actually embroidered not printed, will linen be real linen, will fabrics drape and fit similar to the model image?

--Will you get the item in a reasonable time frame?

--Will you be able to return it with a minimum of fuss?

In general, small, unknown brands can't afford loss-leaders, deeply discounted clothing or selling high quality, super-trendy, very unique items for $18.99 each. If a brand ad drops out of nowhere showing a beautifully detailed corset top with boning, made out of brocade, with hook and eye closures, for $29, you should be very suspicious. Small brands usually have to charge more because they don't have economy of scale advantage.

Now that we know what is meant by "legit", let's go over how you can tell if a site or brand is "legit":

*Note: one of these flags by itself is not a sure sign of a scam. It's really a total "vibe" that you get from 2 or more of these flags together. Non-standard, non-American English isn't a concern if you're shopping on a non-US site or using Google translate function. Etsy sellers, even legit ones, have to use "keyword salad" in their descriptions. Sometimes legit small sellers don't have great websites. Like all advice, there's corner cases and times where it doesn't apply, so ymmv.

Dead Giveaways:

1: Name of brand: the name of the brand is one word, or two complete words (or a phrase) spelled out completely and correctly. The words make sense, or are typically paired together. They don't have 3 vowels in a row, or made up words that aren't Italian, French, Spanish, or other romance languages. If a word is "French" but spelled wrongly, like "Lattelier" (not L'Atelier) that's a clue that it's likely a rip-off.

Avec les filles is a real brand (by which I mean, an established brand that will ship you what you ordered and accept returns)

PrettyLittleThing is a real brand

Wriabble is not

AnotherChill is not

jluxlabel is not *edit: thanks astute readers, this brand is apparently inexpensive and has a few flags but is not a scam

Maloona is not

This is something that, to an extent, you have to use your instincts with. Many brands will pair unrelated words such as "Sling Roses" or "Toad Sprocket" and that's where the other tips come in.

2: Description of item or title of item

Reputable, legit brands either give the item a name "The Jessica top" or use one phrase to describe it "Wide Legged Pants". Occasionally they will give it a whimsical name "The Revlon" or something. Even more occasionally they will have a longer phrase like "Off the shoulder cowl neck lace up top in berry".

However, the words will be in correct American English adjective order which is:

Quantity or number

Quality or opinion

Size

Age

Shape

Color

Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)

Purpose or qualifier

They do not use "keyword salad" like "CUTE OFF SHOULDER DRAPED SLEEVE BUSTIER MESH CROP CORSET TOP - APRICOT" or "Sexy Satin Corset Tops Women Clothing 2022 Summer Backless Crop Top Casual Sleeveless Club Party Camisole Blusas Femme"

3: Price does not match quality of item pictured in stock photos

This is a huge one. For this post I used "corset tops" as a search term to get examples. Corset tops range from $1000 to inexpensive items at about $35.00 or so.

Let's take a look at how quality relates to price:

Current Air is selling this adorable corset-detail blouse on sale for $60.00, down from $99.00.

"Emmiol"is selling this boned corset belt/top for $11.00

Cider, a brand people typically ask about here is selling this for $18.00

What's the difference?

Aside from just fabric (the two less expensive items have less), you can see that the Current Air blouse has a zipper. The two others are pull on or front-lace. The Current Air item has self-covered edges on the bra cup area, and covered stays/boning. Current Air has also made the effort to match the plaid (at least on the model item) of the different parts, making a beautifully consistent looking item.

The other two, the price just isn't in line with the stock photos. Notice in the Cider ad, you don't see the entire front of the item, the item on more than one model (or the entire garment on a model) it's laced with a literal shoelace and in the description it says you can wash and tumble dry where the Current Air says handwash.

Tumble-drying an item with boning is a comically terrible idea. To the point I wonder if it's just elastic in there--or no boning, which is more like it. You can also see that even in the stock picture, the stitching is loose and visible, in the Cider item.

Another example: Free People is cheating a bit here with a smocked back, but they are using hook and eye closures, and the construction of the corset is really nice--it has a peplum bodice with stitched-down pleating. I also think there's no boning in the garment, but the heavy, thick seams perform that function. It's $78.00.

4: Stock photos do not show the model's face

I'm not sure why this is (maybe to avoid paying royalties to the model? to fool Google reverse image search?) but if you see pictures of the item on some sexy-poo lady who is 99 pounds soaking wet and all you can see are her airbrushed tan limbs and torso and the item, alarm bells should be ringing.

Most companies want to sell you a lifestyle and fantasy. They have a "type" of customer they sell to and their models reflect that aspirational "type"---club girl, chic upper middle class lady, boyish, stylish lesbian (Kirin Finch), etc. That customer is usually styled including hair, makeup, accessories and so on. With these sketchy brands, they don't want to pay for a full photo shoot so they crop the stock picture from somewhere else, or use low-paid IG models or use brand representatives on IG's pics.

Less obvious signs:

The photos of the stock are all different styles, backgrounds, themes, and "look".

See how this iffy shop has customer-submitted photos, no-head photos, garments on a mannequin, accessories in the box in harsh ring lighting (meaning that's a rep/dupe from China likely, FYI), pictures that look like IG selfies, and so on? There's no consistent "look and feel" for the pictures. Compare to Free People--even if the model and location is different, same filter/color palette, same styling, same type of model, same look and feel.

The website doesn't pop a macro asking you to sign up and offering % off.

The website doesn't pop a macro forcing you to acknowledge their cookies policy

The icons and logos aren't hyperlinked--when you hover, they're flat and static and your mouse doesn't turn into an arrow or hand image.

The word "hollow" or "hollow out" is in the description or title of the item. This is a literal translation of lace/cut-out/crochet/fishnet from another language and not how we'd describe an item in English: Exhibit A who called a tube top "hollow"? Someone who is literally translating "tube" or "crochet" from another language to English.

The website is built on SquareSpace or another "plug and play" site-builder. This is where IG brands that aren't SHEIN like but are drop-shippers live. They're brands that get orders and then order items from Aliexpress or SHEIN or Alibaba and then ship them to you at 10x markup.

The sex appeal of the model is being used to sell the item the model has a dramatic bustline, impossibly tiny waist, popped booty, cocked hip, you can see long beach waves hair, etc. They want you to overlook the sketchy quality of the item and focus on how they want you to think you'll look in it.

There are multiple colorways of the item that super-unique, beautiful, detailed, embellished corset...comes in blue, orange, black, white, and green? Hm.

There are hundreds, or thousands of items in stock

The size range is small, and does not include XXS, XL and above, tall, petite, or other special sizes.

The branding on IG doesn't fit the current "aesthetic" going around IG. Look how similar Haus and Recess, Bala, Chamboard, and Away, and on the other hand, Madewell, Girls Night in, So Worth Loving, and Beardbrand are

There's a certain brand kit aesthetic that dominates "legit" brands with the budget to hire a brand person, so the brand will fit into the current group of aesthetics you typically see in your feed.

After all that, you can still get fooled and taken advantage of. Drop shippers hide under "local boutique" websites. Etsy, eBay, and Amazon don't screen at all for huge unscrupulous companies that churn out factory-made crap. The best rule If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.