Nike code checker Style code, UPC and QR

Start with the codes, then look at the shoe. Type the style code and the UPC from the size tag into this checker: if the barcode belongs to a different shoe or size, the label was not printed from Nike's data. Then compare the shape, stitching, materials and box with a genuine pair in our Nike guides and Jordan guides. A code check can only expose a bad label, so for a verdict on the pair itself, send photos for a Nike legit check or a Jordan legit check.

Nike shoes have no serial number. What people call the serial number is the style code on the size tag, such as DZ5485-612: six characters for the model and three digits for the colourway. The same code is printed on every pair of that colourway, genuine or fake. The tag also carries a UPC for the exact size and, on most pairs since early 2019, a QR code. This checker reads all three.

Open your phone's camera and point it at the QR code on the size tag inside the shoe. The camera shows a link starting with qr.nike.com. Copy that link into this checker together with the 13 characters printed beside the QR code. To check the barcode instead, type the digits printed under it. A code that won't scan because the tag is creased or worn says nothing about the shoe.

The QR code on a recent Nike size tag opens qr.nike.com followed by a 13-character code. The page asks for your location, saying Nike uses it to help protect the Nike brand, and then forwards you to a Nike page. When we tested it in November 2026, it sent every correctly formed code to the same page, including codes we made up, and showed no product and no verdict. So a working scan does not show that a pair is real.

Many do. Counterfeit tags often carry a QR code in the same qr.nike.com format, and some carry a code that Nike's own server rejects because it uses a letter Nike never prints (I, L, O or U). Genuine pairs made before 2019, and some from 2019 and 2020, have no QR code at all. So neither a QR code nor a missing one decides anything on its own.

Type the 12, 13 or 14 digits under the barcode into this checker. It checks the barcode's check digit, then looks the number up in our offline copy of Nike's catalogue and shows which style code, model and US size Nike assigned it to. If that differs from the style code or size printed on the same tag, the label was not printed from Nike's data. If the number is not in our copy, that says nothing either way.

On genuine pairs the UPC on the box label matches the UPC on the size tag once you ignore the two small digits printed after the box barcode. A mismatch is worth asking the seller about, because shoes also end up in the wrong box for ordinary reasons. A match proves little, since counterfeit boxes are often printed to match the tag.

The first six characters identify the model, either two letters and four digits (DZ5485) or six digits on older platforms (555088). The three digits after the dash identify the colourway, and their first digit usually follows the main colour: 0 for black or grey, 1 for white, 6 for red. Kids sizes have their own six-character base with the same three colour digits. Nike has never published the scheme, so treat the colour digit as a habit, not a rule.