Dupe culture may have begun as a social media trend among the cash-strapped young, but it has now gone mainstream and is gaining traction among older and more affluent shoppers. That’s according to new research from Savanta, which interviewed 2,237 UK adults aged 18+ online.
It said hunting down ‘dupe products’ — less expensive alternatives to brand-name items that often look similar or offer similar benefits — is growing in popularity across both the fashion and beauty sectors.
For instance, some 25% of over-40s admit to buying dupe clothing in the last year and 35% of wealthier consumers say they “still buy dupes even when I can afford the real thing”.
But there are some obstacles to further growth with 47% of those polled saying dupe products promote fast fashion. That rises to 55% of Gen Z and Millennial shoppers, many of whom are increasingly turning against the fast fashion business model.
Yet even with this negative undercurrent, dupes have generated huge buzz on social media in recent years, with six billion views of the #dupe hashtag on TikTok, and Gen Z being seen as the main lovers of dupes during the cost-of-living squeeze.
As for older shoppers, the survey shows that clothing is the most popular dupe item among the over-40s, which includes Gen X and Baby Boomers, while 19% say they’ve also bought a dupe skincare product in the last year.
The increase in more affluent shoppers buying such products comes as the stigma drops and quality of some items rises.
Holli Preston, Associate Director at Savanta, said: "Up until quite recently, there was a bit of a stigma attached to dupes. Our research suggests that’s no longer the case, with surprising numbers of older and wealthier people buying dupe clothing and beauty products.
“There is clearly a significant opportunity here for dupe product brands to capitalise on, and grow. But with increased exposure comes increased risk, and as dupes get more popular, more questions will be asked about their business models, and quality.”
And of course, brands also have to be extremely careful about copyright issues as ‘dupe’ can very easily translate into outright copying.