Danish Furniture Brand OMHU Made Its Own "Dupe" — and It Sold Out in 10 Minutes
A Danish furniture brand has beaten the copycats at their own game by making a cheap knock-off of its own bestselling sofa — on purpose.
OMHU, based in Copenhagen, released a cut-price version of its popular Teddy sofa bed on 5 September, pricing it at US$799.99 against the original's US$1,995 retail tag. The brand named it "Tedy," deliberately misspelling the original, and upholstered it in a vivid "dupe-orange" colour. All 50 limited-edition pieces sold out within 10 minutes, according to the company Dezeen.
The Teddy, first released in 2022, is a modular two-seater with a chrome-plated steel frame and 90 per cent polyester upholstery that folds out into a bed or large floor cushion. A sectional version retails for US$3,195 The Independent. After the sofa went viral, OMHU conducted market research and found that its biggest competitors were not other furniture brands but the knock-offs — "dupes," in internet shorthand — being sold across e-commerce platforms.
So the brand decided to "outdupe" the copycats rather than sue them. OMHU priced the Tedy to match the average cost of dupes sold online and listed it not on its own website but on platforms where shoppers already hunt for bargains: Temu, Etsy and Dupe.com. Same materials, same construction as the original — just a different colour and a deliberately mangled name.
Creative director Christine Smith told Dezeen that the Teddy is "one of the most duped pieces of furniture out there." CEO Simon Salomonsson said every brand people recognise goes through copying, and invited other companies tired of being copied to join the conversation.
OMHU also warned that fake Teddy dupes sold by third parties carry real risks: poor build quality, toxic materials, phishing scams, and in some cases no delivery at all OMHU. The company pointed to the spread of dupe culture from fashion into furniture and design, a trend it tied to Gen Z and internet shopping habits.
What makes the strategy bracing is that it refuses the usual playbook. Instead of sending cease-and-desist letters or running anti-counterfeit campaigns, OMHU walked into the dupe market and sold a better version of the knock-off on the very platforms where the copies thrive. The 10-minute sellout suggests the audience was paying attention.
