Don’t get caught out by crooks. Here’s a simple guide on how to spot fake versions of your favourite football shirts.
Shirts
It’s become a huge problem for brands, manufacturers and buyers. The grim fact is, fake football shirts are everywhere. With advances in production quality, it’s never been more difficult to tell the difference between real vs. fake jerseys.
As die-hard appreciators of beautiful football kits, we felt it was the right time to step in and offer some helpful advice.
We get it, everyone loves cheap football shirts. But we don’t want you getting dragged into the dark underworld of dodgy knockoffs to chase a bargain.
How to spot a fake football shirt
How difficult is it to spot a fake these days? Quite difficult, as it turns out. There are a few key things to look out for if you think you’re being swindled, so let’s take a look.
Price is a dead giveaway. New official shirts are anywhere between £60 and £150. So, that fake you spotted on DHgate for £15? Yep, not real.
Prices are currently at their highest levels for customers, but so are manufacturing and logistics costs. Our advice would be to compare deals and find the cheapest price online with us (well, obviously).
Confirm official tags / product codes
All official releases from leading manufacturers now contain unique product codes, which you can check in various ways. There are also a few other things to note when you’re eyeing up a fresh kit purchase.
Nike
Find the style code on the internal tag (inside hem, near the bottom of the shirt). It will be 6 digits, a dash then 3 more digits. Google it and if it matches the images you see, then it’s real.
Adidas
Find the code, known as the International Article Number (IAN), usually found on a small tag under the collar. It will be 6 digits long and includes 2 letters and 4 numbers. Like Nike, Google the IAN and see if the same shirt you’ve bought appears online.
Puma
Similar to Nike and adidas, Puma’s shirt codes can be Googled to see if your purchase matches the real version. You can even scan the QR code on the label too. Puma’s style codes are found on the internal tag stitched into the inner hem. They’re usually 6 numbers with a dash, followed by 2 more numbers.
Umbro
Unfortunately, anything from pre-2005 won’t have a unique product code attached to it. You’ll need to get the magnifying glass out for the detail on retro designs. Since 2005 though, you’ll find unique product codes to check on the inner tags of Umbro shirts.
hummel
Official hummel products have a stamp on the outside that reads “official authentic apparel” with the hummel logo below. If you compare this tag and it doesn’t match perfectly, you’re looking at a fake. There are also style codes inside of all official hummel kits too.
Kappa
Kappa is well ahead of the curve in this space, they have a website (basiclabels.net) where you can simply type in the product code to check a shirt’s legitimacy. Shouldn’t everyone be using this system now? We certainly think so.
Check accuracy of detailing
This is a key area when it comes to spotting a fake vs. the real thing. Like Pep’s masterplan, it’s all about the little details. Let’s jump into a short list of areas to examine when you’re trying to understand if you’re buying an authentic version.
Badges
Compare crests, brand logos and emblems to the original, side-by-side. Do you spot colour mismatches? Can you see spacing errors? Even typos? Fakes will be littered with them.
Labels
As we mentioned in the last section, comparing tags against the official products that you know to be real, can be a telltale marker. Check codes, spacing, layout and colours.
Printing / Colour / Pattern
Shoddy heat and pattern printing can be a clear sign of a shirt that’s come from the fake market. Often the sponsor or player printing will be wrinkled, discoloured or just plain wrong. Note that any subliminal patterning on fake shirts is often more bold than on the original too.
Material
Shirt material is one the most expensive part of clothes manufacturing, so con artists are forced to use cheaper materials when producing counterfeits. Get a feel for it, is it thinner than normal? Is it shinier? Hold it up against the light, does it let more light through than you’d expect? You’ll know it's cheap when you see it.
Stitching
Turn the shirt inside out to find out if it contains any weak or untidy stitching. Check all hems, joins and badges.
Don’t get stitched up. All respected manufacturers have strict quality assurance standards to avoid poor quality in this area.
Understand shirt terminology
It can look like a confusing world when multiple versions of every shirt are released.
It's good to understand the terms that are used to describe them, so you know how to avoid being caught out when shopping online.
Replica vs. authentic / player issue
This term isn’t to do with fakes, but dodgy sellers will often use the term ‘replica’ to confuse buyers.
The terms replica vs. player issue shirt is to do with the higher quality matchday versions (authentic / player issue) vs. the fan-friendly standard version (replica).
Original retro / retro remakes
The market for retro football kits is booming, and rightly so. There are some beauties (real ones) out there. But you’ll need to be careful. Due to the lucrative value of owning original rare shirts from years gone by, scammers are now keen to produce retro fakes of their own. These are very different to official ‘retro remakes’ or Score Draw shirts, which are fully licenced remakes of the original designs.
Buy from trusted retailers
I know we’re biased on this one, but we mean it. Buying from trusted retailers or brands is the only way you’ll 100% guarantee that you’re getting a real shirt. Depop, eBay and Facebook Marketplace are minefields when it comes to the football shirt trade. Usually, feedback / reviews and listing quality are clear markers for dodgy activity.You can also find plenty of football kit connoisseurs and communities on social media, and they’re all helpful when it comes to crowdsourcing on legitimacy. Go get involved with them.
Are fake football shirts bad?
There’s only one benefit to buying fake shirts, and that’s probably why people choose to do it. Cost.
Inevitably, they’re cheaper to buy than official football kits. If that wasn’t the case, they wouldn’t exist in the first place, right?
But what are you really getting for that cheaper price? Well, let us explain.
Funding criminal operations
We’re trying not to go too serious here, but those who choose to buy fake football jerseys are essentially funding a criminal operation. It’s illegal to sell counterfeit branded goods in the UK, and it could also help to fund other illegal activities like money laundering too.
We shouldn’t be funding these people, we should be helping to stop them, just like this seizure of fake World Cup shirts did last year.
Devaluing designers, brands and clubs
A lot of hard work, thought and design goes into each stitch of a team’s new shirt. If you go fake, you’re dismissing that.
Brands and manufacturers produce quality products and have built their reputation for years, only to be devalued and tarnished by fakes on the market.
Lower quality materials
OK, so you may stumble across the odd “decent” one. But the truth is, you’ll never find one anything like the original and official production.
The materials used on the authentic releases (both player issue and replica) are far superior to anything used on fake remakes. Hence the difference in cost.
It’s the same reason why League Two players are worth less than 5% of what most Premier League players are. There’s an obvious gulf in class.
Poor attention to detail
Pick two versions of the same fake shirt up, we guarantee you’ll spot plenty of issues. And that’s before you compare them to an original. The attention to detail during the manufacturing process is so minimal, you’ll see a ton of errors from batch to batch.
Never forget, the criminals that produce fakes are all about ‘passable’ mass production within the lowest possible budget. Quality assurance, what’s that?
Don’t wash well
Due to the lower quality of materials, it’s a guarantee that fake football kits won’t wash as well as official ones.
This means it might look good on first wear down at 5-a-side, but once you’ve run it through a 2-hour cycle at 30 degrees, it won’t look the same. Colours will run, bobbles will appear, it’ll shrink and threads will come loose. It’ll all unravel quicker than a Champions League campaign from PSG.
No resale value for collectors
If you’re out there hunting for the next collector’s item, then fake shirts are sure to be your worst enemy.
The resale market for football shirts is booming, and that means that savvy collectors are everywhere. They’re a bunch that are becoming experienced at spotting fakes too.
Fakes will depreciate. That’s a cold, hard fact. That “retro classic” you were hoping would rise in value? Worthless.
How to avoid fake football shirts
First of all, try to avoid shopping for brand new shirts at reseller sites like eBay, Depop and Facebook Marketplace.
Those sites are known breeding grounds for fake football shirts, they all seemingly have owners who don’t do anything to stop counterfeit trade either.
If you’re shopping for retro shirts or second-hand classics, be vigilant and always compare the listing to the original using our tips above. In conclusion, buying from a brand, club shop or trusted retailer is the only way to bag yourself an official product.