Why Knock-off Baby Gear is Dangerous

@Lisenok/Twenty20

5 reasons you should steer clear of those non-brand names.

*We’ve partnered with Crane to help you avoid baby gear knockoffs.

There are some things you can totally go generic on. Your cereal. A bag of chips. Maybe even your nail polish if you get lucky. But when it comes to gear for your baby — items you need to trust, things you want to last — there are so many reasons to stick with the real deal. From quality to safety, you can actually lose so much when you pass up a name brand. Your baby gear is NOT the place to take that gamble.

To help explain why, we partnered with Crane, whose innovative Drop humidifier is often imitated but never quite duplicated. Here are 5 reasons to avoid knock-off baby gear.

1. You want your baby gear to be safe. You get what you pay for when you buy a knockoff. Real brands go beyond the basics and think through every safety angle since they’ve got a reputation to uphold. Crane, for example, includes an automatic shut off on their humidifiers when the tank is empty to help eliminate the risk of a fire hazard…or worse. Keep an eye out for corner-cutting on look-alikes.

2. You need a warranty you can trust. If something breaks on an item from a trusted baby brand, chances are your manufacturer’s warranty will get you a replacement…and possibly even a new product altogether. If something breaks on your knockoff gear? Well there’s no guarantee you can do anything about it. Don’t bet on a brand that sees your baby as a dollar sign. They might not be around when the going gets tough.

3. Customer service is clutch. Major baby gear brands like Crane have incredible in-house customer care; you can call or email and ask questions about any of their products, and reliable team members will help you out — from troubleshooting to picking the right essential oil diffuser for your home. Good luck getting anyone on the line for that knockoff diffuser you just ordered from China.

4. We’re all about accountability. We’ve all ordered the cutest little romper on Amazon because it was only $7, but then it arrived three months later and the fabric was all scratchy, and do you know how much it costs to send a romper to Bangladesh? Trusted baby brands know they can’t pull that BS because bad reviews will destroy their brand credibility — and their business.

5. And then there’s that performance thing. There’s a reason people pay up for brand names. Their products work! Established companies invest in product development and are introducing innovative updates all the time — Crane’s humidifiers use clean control antimicrobial material in the base to help reduce mold and bacteria growth up to 99.96% — and they don’t even require a filter! Knock offs are all about copying the look, without the substance.