Navigating through a flood of faked silicone brands

Counterfeits abound not of just my brand, but of all the main US silicone manufacturers, so it’s really become a buyer beware environment again with so many toys claiming to be silicone because it’s become the standard of safety.  Up until 2019 there were no fake SquarePegs on the market, so this guide is to help you discern if what you’ve got is authentic, and safe to put inside your body.

 

• There are no authorized resellers of SquarePegToys^® on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Wish, Alibaba and the like.  They only sell counterfeits and imitations of my line and others.  Full disclosure:  I did spend many thousands and countless hours getting Amazon and Wish to remove product that infringed on my registered trademark, but they both washed their hands of policing new shops, so once one got shut down it would just pop up again under a new name.  There are literally hundreds on each site at any given time. I performed this “whack-a-mole” exercise for a good month or so and had to finally give in to the futility of it all.

 

• The largest imitator at the moment seems to be a chinese company called Nothosaur.  You’ll note their Bad Dragon inspired logo as well.  I ordered several toys directly from them in order to accurately provide the images here. Even though they were all ordered at once on the same site, they shipped individually from separate locations in china.  The most noticeable difference in their material is the bulging base that is present. On one of the toys they tried to hide the fact that their material bulges by capping the mold, thereby creating a suction cup base in the process but the bubbles still betray (bottom image) 100% Platinum systems don’t bulge or bubble on their own, just ask any of your favorite silicone toy makers.

 

• Don’t assume the cheap price is just because it’s made in china and so it’s to be expected.  In June 2021, the G7 banned all products containing silicon from a large producer that was found to be using forced labor to extract the mineral. Silicon is what silicone polymer is made from.  It is naturally difficult to image some of this cheaply minded silicon didn’t end up in the flood of silicone toys coming out of that country or at least had an effect on the cost of other mined silica there, creating an unfair advantage over US manufacturers.  You can view the full notice on the US customs and border control’s website.