The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) has endorsed the latest USTR notorious markets report, while pressing e-commerce and social media platforms to take tougher, more proactive steps to curb counterfeit sales that it says endanger consumers and undermine legitimate brands.
In response to the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s 2025 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, AAFA president and CEO Steve Lamar said the trade body was encouraged to see longstanding concerns reflected more clearly particularly those tied to social and commerce-driven platforms. He said AAFA is “pleased” to see USTR, “recognise existing concerns across e-commerce and social media sites, including mentioning Meta’s Facebook and Instagram. This is an important step to help raise awareness of the scourge of dangerous counterfeits.”
The annual USTR notorious markets report identifies physical markets and digital platforms around the world that are believed to facilitate the distribution of pirated or counterfeit goods and services. The review draws on submissions from rights holders and other stakeholders and is intended to spotlight areas where enforcement and cooperation may need to intensify.
AAFA said it submits evidence each year highlighting marketplaces and platforms that, in its view, enable and profit from counterfeit trade activity it argues puts businesses, workers and consumers at risk while eroding US innovation. In its autumn 2025 submission, AAFA recommended several platforms for inclusion in the 2025 report, including Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, and marketplaces operated by Alibaba Group and Shopee.
In line with findings from previous years, the 2025 report also underscored how counterfeit demand is increasingly being shaped by social commerce. Submissions cited in the review describe patterns where users are encouraged to search for counterfeit items via social platforms, including through influencer activity. The report notes the growing popularity of influencers who review and promote counterfeit luxury goods, sharing links that intentionally steer audiences toward purchasing fakes through pages listed in their social profiles.
USTR said it plans to continue engaging with the platforms in question and outlined steps that e-commerce and social commerce operators can take to address the problem. These include adopting stronger IP enforcement policies, improving transparency, collaborating more closely with rights holders to resolve complaints quickly, and working with law enforcement to identify and disrupt infringement networks.
AAFA senior director of brand protection Jennifer Hanks said member companies are already investing heavily to combat counterfeit activity online, but argued that platform-level safeguards still need to improve particularly in preventing consumers from being pushed off-platform into fraudulent sites.
“In addition to USTR’s emphasis on global marketplaces, all domestic platforms should institute more proactive, preventative measures to address dangerous counterfeits, fraudulent advertisements and ways to take consumers off platform to fraudulent websites.
“We look forward to continued collaboration with USTR, Congress, and the Trump Administration to advance initiatives to address issues across the Digital Devalue Chain of Counterfeits,” added Hanks.
Lamar also emphasised that enforcement is not only a brand-protection issue but a consumer-safety and fair-competition issue, especially in apparel and footwear where IP theft risk is high. He argued counterfeiters gain a pricing advantage by avoiding compliance costs and ethical sourcing standards that legitimate companies invest in.
“Legitimate brands invest millions to make sure products are responsibly made and ethically sourced. Counterfeiters can largely avoid those extra costs,” Lamar said.
Earlier this month, AAFA published research focused on the safety implications of counterfeit fashion. The report, Unboxing Fake Fashion Unleashing Real Dangers, found a 41% safety failure rate and cited evidence that fake apparel, footwear and accessories can pose serious chemical and product safety risks to consumers.