equivalent

In marketing terms, anything which is "equivalent" to something else is always available for less cash, but it also comes with less cachet.

If cachet is what the original is all about, then the hell with the cash. And vice versa. :)

I learned this lesson vividly with my preteenage daughter some years back. We were at the Mall and she saw a pair of Birkenstock sandals which made her own Birkenstocks, although perfectly serviceable, seem unstylish.

I offered to buy her a pair of Birkenstock look-alikes of all-leather construction for half the price and she went off in something of a huff, preferring her slightly worn, genuine Birkenstocks to the stylish "equivalent" brand new.

In style, at least, "equivalency" is a matter of personal taste.