FAKE FOOTBALL SHIRTS
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| Can you spot the fake shirt
and the real McCoy? |
It's the pride and joy of any self
respecting football fan but is the shirt on your back the real McCoy?
Inside Out investigates counterfeit football shirts.
Every football season eager Magpie fans queue up to grab
the new Newcastle United football shirt.
Newcastle United fans spend millions of pounds each year
buying these replica kits. It's a symbol of pride and any self-respecting
Toon Army fan has to have one.
But many supporters could be buying shoddy copies smuggled
into Britain by organised gangs.
Away from the bright lights of St James' Park, counterfeiters
are one step ahead of the game. Inside Out travelled to Bangkok to investigate
the growing problem of counterfeit shirts.
Fake football shirts
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| Fake shirts
have tell-tale signs of being copied |
Earlier this year a plot to smuggle hundreds of fake
football shirts into Newcastle city centre was uncovered by Customs investigators.
The counterfeit Newcastle United shirts were made in
Far East sweatshops and were destined for car boot sales, market stalls
and pubs.
The consignment of 88 shirts from Thailand was seized
at Newcastle Airport in May 2003.
The real shirts sell for about 拢40 but these inferior
copies were designed to be sold for around 拢10.
Winners and losers
Counterfeit shirt trading is big business and it's a growing problem
for fans and football clubs.
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| Football crazy
- cheap shirts on a Bangkok market stall |
Fans might think they are getting a bargain but they
are buying inferior goods.
Those found smuggling goods can be prosecuted and can
be fined up to 拢10,000 under the Trademark Act 1994.
As well as organised smugglers, counterfeit clothing is often brought
back to Britain by tourists travelling back from Thailand or Turkey.
Tourists might think that they've grabbed cut price merchandise
but they're also encouraging the black market trade.
Counterfeit capital
Bangkok is the counterfeit capital of the world, and
Pat Pong Market is THE place to go for cheap, fake replica gear.
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| Thailand is
a hotspot for counterfeit goods |
Our visit to the market was eye-opening.
We were able to buy copies of the latest Newcastle United club shirts
for as little as 拢2 each.
The only problem - they are complete fakes.
All the big brands have representatives out in the Far
East trying to clamp down on counterfeiters.
But it's an uphill struggle. Pat Pong Market springs
up daily at 7pm when it's too late at night for local police to obtain
a search warrant.
Although there have been raids, there appears to be an
almost unlimited supply of fake shirts being manufactured.
Giving counterfeiting the red card
| THE RED CARD |
|
The
down side
Counterfeit shirts can result in many problems:
- damage
to the business of the legitimate manufacturers of goods;
- poor
quality products which do not perform or last as long as expected;
- the
customer can find it hard or impossible to get a refund;
- counterfeit
sales can contribute to gangs involved in weapon smuggling, prostitution
and organised crime;
- rip
off shirt sales reduce income and investment in your football club;
- counterfeit
shirts are made by low paid workers in sweat shops;
- fake
goods have an impact on the local economy and jobs back home.
Spotting fakes
Examine
the shirt carefully. The quality of materials used and printing
will be inferior for counterfeit goods.
Be suspicious of clothing with no or poor quality labels, poor quality
printing or embroidery of logos.
Be
wary of goods with prices that are too good to be true.
|
Inside Out witnessed one raid on a back street sweat
shop. Nearly 3,000 counterfeited items were found, and the criminals were
prosecuted.
The Thai market in counterfeit shirts doesn't just serve
English football fans.
Football fever is rife in Thailand, and locals are keen
to buy shirts at low prices.
Bangkok even has its own branch of the Newcastle United
supporters club!
Their members say that it's hard to resist a bargain
fake shirt.
The cost of an official Newcastle United shirt is worth
a week's wages in Thailand.
The rip-off replica shirts are just 10% of the price.
Spot the difference
Back home the dilemma for English fans is 'how do you
spot a fake shirt'?
It's easy to spot the difference when you put the two
shirts side-by-side.
Most fake shirts are not as well cut, and are often manufactured
from cheaper materials.
Sometimes the club badges have a slightly different,
simplified design.
The main giveaway is likely to be the ridiculously low price.
Stiffer penalties?
So what is being down to stop the trade
in counterfeit shirts?
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| Fake shirts seized at Newcastle
Airport |
"It's a problem. We're trying to take action to
prevent counterfeit goods coming into the country."
"It's a difficult operation to stop," says
Newcastle United's Trevor Garwood.
"My advice to fans is - if you're offered it, don't
buy it," he continues.
Although clubs and shirt producers are trying to stamp
out the fakes, it's a hard trade to eliminate because of the number of
people involved.
On the losing side
It seems that the trade in fake shirts is likely to continue
unless radical action can be taken.
The real losers in this game of counterfeit trading are
the supporters who are buying inferior shirts.
But at the end of the day there's no substitute for the
real thing - a new, 100% original Newcastle United shirt as worn by Alan
Shearer and Kieran Dyer.
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