UA stands for Unauthorized Authentic. In the sneaker world, UA shoes are made in the same manufacture with the same materials as genuine shoes.

In the world with the rapid rise of shoes, the chances are quite high that you might bump into such terms as authentic shoes, replica/knockoff, unauthorized authentic, and counterfeit/fake. Sometimes these terms come in an abbreviation form, like UA. But what does UA mean in shoes?

Although some of these terms are related and similar, there will be certain obvious variances in certain contexts that should be pointed out. So, I have tried to make it as simple as possible so that you can understand what UA means in shoes and differentiate these terms.

If you are inexperienced in the sneaker world, or this is your first time trying to distinguish different types of shoes, you probably come across the word UA. So, what does UA mean in shoes? In fact, UA is signified as unauthorized authentic. Therefore, UA shoes simply mean unauthorized authentic shoes. These types of sneakers are typically manufactured at the same factory and use the same fabric/material as genuine shoes.

In fact, big shoe companies won’t just need a sneaker factory to manufacture their sneakers. More than that, they will find a lot of manufacturers to do that. Then, these companies will assign a specific number of different sneaker models to each of these manufacturers.

However, some of these manufacturers will not make only the assigned number of shoes that the companies order. They will make more than that. The reason is that they need extra shoes to replace the refused sneakers that don’t pass the quality check. Nevertheless, when the shoe companies receive the shoes, they ask another manufacturer to make them.

So, in this case, the extra sneakers were refused or didn’t even reach the examination stage. This is simply because the shoe companies have already hit the quota. Hence, these shoes are left in the manufacturer, and that is how unauthorized authenticity comes in.

In reality, these pairs are produced in the same factory as the authentic ones. They are also made by the same employees and with the same materials/fabric as the genuine pairs. And the only difference between UA shoes and authentic shoes is that unauthorized authentic sneakers were not authorized or licensed by the shoe companies. So, the manufacturer will then sell these sneakers to online shoe stores or shoe dealers.

Therefore, there is no need to worry about the UA shoes’ quality as these pairs are exactly the same as the original ones.

As I have explained above, unauthorized authentic shoes or UA shoes just don’t get authorized or licensed by the major shoe companies. In terms of quality, you can be completely assured that they are produced under the same process as the authentic ones. So, US shoes have the same quality as the original or the real ones.

No, unauthorized authentic shoes are 100% authentic and genuine. UA (unauthorized authentic) shoes mean they were produced by a similar manufacturer with the same process and materials as the real models. They are just sold by someone else, such as online shoe stores or dealers, instead of the shoe retailer.

UA (or unauthorized authentic) shoes typically have as high quality as the original shoes. This is because the materials, the process, and the workers are the same. They were just not checked by the shoe companies. However, these UA sneakers are usually cheaper than genuine ones, so it will save you greatly.

The word “authentic” simply means original or genuine in shoes. So, if an online shoe store states that its shoes are authentic, you can be assured that its sneakers are the same as those sold in retail stores.