A jersey is the ultimate display of your fanhood.  It is also one of the most expensive purchases most fans will make (I mean aside from front row seats of course!).  However, as with anything with a large price tag, there are counterfeiters out there looking to take advantage of unsuspecting buyers.  Don't be fooled into buying a fake! 

With the ever increasing amount of commerce being conducted online, there are countless companies selling fan gear such as jerseys.  However, they are not all legitimate.  Chinese companies such as Wish and Alibaba are two of the most prevalent purveyors of counterfeit merchandise across all categories.  If you buy from one of those sites, you can be guaranteed of receiving a cheaply made fake jersey.  There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.  

One of the easiest ways to avoid buying a counterfeit jersey is in where you buy it.  Of course buying it at the stadium of your favorite team is the most certain way, but also the most expensive.  There are better ways.  Yes, I'd love for you to buy your jersey from www.flyovercountrysg.com but I also recognize that as of the writing of this blog, we are still growing our inventory and the catalog of products and manufacturers that we carry. 

Another easy way to spot a fake is the absence of a UPC number.  Even the counterfeiters know that a jersey without tags is suspicious, so many of the fakes will have tags.  However,  a UPC tag is another story.  UPC numbers are unique to a specific item and can even vary by size. So if a jersey is available in a range of men's, women's, and children's sizes, each of those would require a unique UPC code matched to the size.  Keep in mind that most counterfeiters are out for a quick buck and finding all those numbers, reproducing them, and matching them up to the right size would be daunting so they typically skip this step.  

In terms of the physical aspects of a jersey, there are some things to keep in mind.  One of the most easily spotted features of a counterfeit is the absence of the material content tag.  This is the tag that is usually located on the inside of the jersey.  Typically, they are attached at one of the vertical seams and towards the bottom of the jersey.  This tag tells you the material makeup of the jersey on one side and the washing instructions on the other.  Any article of clothing available for sale in the USA is required to have this information.  However, most counterfeiters don't bother including this in their knock off products.  

If it's a college jersey that you're looking at, keep in mind that each college or university licenses the manufacture of goods with their respective name or logo on them.  However, they are not able to license the use of a player name on it.  This means that if you are looking at a college jersey with a player's name on the back, unless you are buying a verified game used jersey from the university itself, it is most likely a fake.  

A good rule of thumb is the old adage of "if it's too good to be true, it probably is". Keep in mind that a legitimate jersey with applique (Ironed on) logos or numbers is usually in the $100.00 range and an authentic on field jersey can easily reach $180 and up. If you are seeing a jersey with sewn on numbers etc. for a significantly lower price, it's probably a fake.  There are exceptions to every rule, such as the player was recently traded to another team or caught up in some sort of scandal making their jersey undesirable (OJ Simpson, Ray Rice etc).

While there are certainly other ways to spot a fake, these are a few of the easiest ways to spot a counterfeit so you don't make an expensive mistake.  Thanks for taking the time to read this and we'd love to hear from you if you found this useful.