How to spot fake Guidi: the left sole beats a photo

To spot fake Guidi, turn the boot over: the brand's own check is a 12 digit Certilogo code beneath the left sole. Between 24 and 26 September, six people asked r/guidi to legit check a pair, and one PL2 got its "legit" in under three minutes.

The verdicts came without reasons. Two of the people who asked wrote back "Based on what?" and "what are the obvious signs?"

Volunteers on r/guidi answer fast and for free, which is a kindness. Still, a photo is the wrong test, and nobody who bought a fake off a good photo was a fool for it. Guidi's authenticity page, read 27 September 2026, puts the check under the left sole, in the box and with the shop that sold the pair.

Blame the leather. Guidi dyes each shoe whole in a drum, zips and all, and its pages call the tonal variations, marks and veins that follow natural features. Even its product photos, the brand says, are only "a general reference".

Quick facts

• The check: a 12 digit CLG code beneath the left sole, plus the original Guidi box every pair must come with
• Running since: the autumn winter 2017 to 2018 collection
• Certilogo: founded in 2006, bought by eBay in 2023
• Guidi's prices on guidi.it: 788Z €1,365, PL2 €1,455, 310 €1,240, 992X €855
• The leather: 41 of Guidi's 55 shoe and boot pages name horse, 9 name calf
• On within: 47 Guidi pieces at one stockist, 26 of them boots at $679 to $2,650, median $1,900, in CAD, read 27 September 2026
• Returns on guidi.it: 30 calendar days from delivery, unused, with all accessories and documents

For the pair with its box, the code settles it

Guidi has run this check since the autumn winter 2017 to 2018 collection. Its authenticity page says "the growing number of unofficial resellers, Guidi fake shoes and non compliant products" pushed the brand to act. The partner is Certilogo, founded in 2006 and bought by eBay in 2023.

The code sits beneath the left sole. Scan it with the Certilogo app for iOS and Android, or type the 12 digits in at certilogo.com, then answer a few questions, including where you bought the pair. Certilogo gives its verdict from there.

Guidi's rule is that every pair of shoes comes with its original Guidi box, so a pair without one is missing part of the check. (The page sits in the footer of guidi.it under the word Certilogo. Its web address spells authenticity without the u, so typing it from memory ends on an error page.)

For the pair in a stranger's photo, the leather gets in the way

Conceria Guidi Rosellini was founded in 1896 in Pescia, Tuscany, by Guido Guidi, Giovanni Rosellini and Gino Ulivo. Ruggero Guidi leads the tannery today, and designers around the world buy its leathers. In a Hypebeast piece of October 2020, Ruggero said the family's vegetable tanning had been refined for over 100 years, and called the method "a secret".

Fascinate, a stockist in Kitahorie, Osaka, on Guidi's list, wrote in October 2024 that each shoe is sewn in off white leather before it is dyed. As the boots air dry, the leather shrinks into the wrinkles Guidi is known for. On a new 788Z, faint wrinkles showed "after just 30 minutes" of the first day.

Every pair is different, and Guidi says so. Its pages add that the dyeing changes how the metal hardware oxidises, pair by pair.

Hypebeast wrote in 2020 that Guidi resists logos, stamping its name only on insoles and shoeboxes. A photo has little branding to read.

For the three boots everyone checks, start with Guidi's pages

Pita Cheng, manager of INK in Hong Kong, told Hypebeast in its piece of 12 October 2020 that "the classics are always our client's favorite". Cheng named the back zip 788Z, the front zip PL2 and the taller 310, which most customers collect in black, red or white first. Before the pandemic, INK sold around 3,000 to 5,000 pairs of Guidi a year in store.

Guidi lists the 788Z at €1,365, in horse full grain leather on a Goodyear welt with a stacked double leather heel. Its PL2, the Palombaro, pairs horse reverse leather with a calf high shaft and a front zip for €1,455. Both pages say each pair is custom made and shipped within 12 weeks.

The 310 army boot, on a low stacked heel, is €1,240, and the 992X derby, "inspired by the original 992", sells for €855. All four are horse leather, and leather grades explained covers what full grain means.

The 988 from those threads is missing from Guidi's 132 products today. A missing page is not a verdict either.

For the shop that sold it, Guidi prints the list

The best question of the week came in German. A day after its first "legit", the 988 thread got a reply asking which site the shoe was posted on. Guidi's own check asks much the same, and its authenticity page names unofficial resellers alongside the fakes as the reason for the code.

Guidi prints its list of shops region by region, from Sugar on Corso Italia in Arezzo to Acoustics in Kumamoto. In Paris it names L'Eclaireur, at 10 Rue Hérold; in New York, La Garçonne, at 465 Greenwich Street.

INK, on Paterson Street in Hong Kong, first hosted Guidi's Live Shoemaking, where the shoemaker Paolo Rugiati made a Guidi shoe live in store. The presentation closed with a party in December 2018. Canada has three entries: one in Richmond, British Columbia, one in Vancouver, and WDLT117 at 7 St Thomas Street in Toronto.

A photo can show you a Guidi. The code, the box and the seller can prove one.

Guidi's price against a real rack

A low price is a question, not a verdict. Guidi's site lists the PL2 at €1,455, and at WDLT117 the PL2 in black asks $2,275, EU 39 only. On the same rack, a real PL2 in kiwi is marked down from $2,150 to $899.

So a cheap pair can be a real pair, and a high price proves nothing either. If the real one suits you, the shop ships from Canada to the US and worldwide, priced in CAD, with duties unpaid on international orders.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre's "Check twice, pay once" says to know the market value and to be cautious of greatly reduced prices, giving 80% off as its example. Read any ask against what Guidi costs and Guidi boots on the shelf before you pay.

Before you pay, ask for the sole

Ask the seller for two photos: the underside of the left sole with the code showing, and the box. Type the code in yourself at certilogo.com instead of trusting a screenshot, and tell Certilogo where you bought the pair, as Guidi's steps ask. Then ask the seller where they bought it, and check the answer against Guidi's list or our page on where to buy Guidi.

Pay with a method that has fraud protection, such as a credit card, and pick up in person when you can. The same fraud page, updated 20 October 2025, says both, and adds that you should verify the seller's address, phone number and email. For fit, see Guidi sizing.

On 20 September, a reader whose first Guidi were a pair of 788Zs asked r/guidi how to find front zips secondhand. One reply, three days later, was two words: "Be patient". It is the right speed for any label you love enough to buy twice.

Common questions

How to tell if Guidi boots are real?

Check the 12 digit CLG code beneath the left sole at certilogo.com, tell Certilogo where you bought the pair, and ask for the original box. Guidi says every pair of shoes comes with that box, and no photo replaces the code, since the brand calls the colour differences between real pairs natural.

How to authenticate Guidi?

Guidi's check runs through a CLG code, beneath the left sole on shoes and on the Certilogo tag attached to the identification tag on bags and garments. Scan it or type it at certilogo.com, answer a few questions, and share where you bought it. For a piece made before the autumn winter 2017 to 2018 collection, the seller and the receipt are the check, and the first checks on vintage designer come next.

Are Guidi boots Goodyear welted?

Most are: 37 of the 55 shoe and boot pages on guidi.it name Goodyear construction, the 788Z, the PL2 and the 992X among them. Of the rest, 6 name a Norwegian welt, 9 a Blake stitch and 3 another stitch. For what each one means, see how shoes are built.

Every business above is independent, was verified open as of August 2026, and nobody paid to be here. If one has closed or moved, tell us at hello@shopwithin.co and we will fix it.

within opens the world's best boutique shelves on October 1. Toronto is open now and more cities follow. Questions this page did not answer go to hello@shopwithin.co, where a person reads them.