generally speaking: authentic/player issue: jerseys that were worn by players or made for players to wear in games. official replicas: what's sold in stores, megastores, legit online shops. the majority of what fans buy are these. replicas: knock offs, fakes.
Authentic : People mostly graded it as match issue jersey. But sometimes when people mentioning "authentic replica", it is generally means that it is official replica that manufactured from the official supplier. Official replica : As I mentioned above, it is the real thing that produced by the official supplier. And of course, it is original but there are some differences between the match issue and official replica. It is because official replica is a "replica" of the actual jersey that the professional worn. There are some different between the specs of official replica and match issue jersey, for example, the material used, the ventilation holes design, the stiching and etc. Replica : Might be the real thing or might be the knock off or fakes as we said. So, you must ask the seller details whether it is authentic or official replica from the official manufacture or simply knock off. Licensed : As about this, if you are buying authentic or official replica then it is licensed because it is the real thing. About your case, most probably that the factory is one of the Nike authorized factory to produce its products. Thus, it has the materials and machine for production. However, some of these factories manufactured some portion of Nike's products but they do it underground and never record it on the ledger and never paid for the taxes and duties. It is because the factory sell it for higher profit rather than just supplying to Nike. Therefore, it can be said that it is not licensed. Something to put in mind, normally they never run quality measurements on their products unlike what they do when they need to supply to Nike. Nike has the reputation to keep so they need to do a lot of quality measurements before the products are able to put into the market. These factories don't, so they might use low quality materials or even they might supply you with the rejected products. Thus, they don't have the serial number. Other than these, they even produces like bags, purses, shoes, shirts and anything you can name it. From Gucci to LV, from Nike to Puma, just anything that is brandy and expensive, which they could make huge profits.
ahhh i've been wanting the white l/s! i see you're in h-town...hrmmm, can i borrow it? i'll trade you a red CL print cristano XL 06/07 home shirt heh.
Thank you for clarifying it for me, asprillialim. It makes more sense now. I'm surprised though that Nike would not go after e-bay sellers who sell products under the Nike brand that are not authorized with all the resources the company has. If those jerseys indeed come out of Nike-approved factories, seems a little extra supervision would save them a lot of money in trademark infringement. Those sellers are a common theme on e-bay, and it does not seem that difficult to track them down if they do their selling openly.
That's the thing, more often than not they don't post it under the nike banner. They tend to say "ARSENAL XL HOME JERSEY" rather than "NIKE ARSENAL XL HOME JERSEY" which doesn't advertise it as a Nike product.
You're absolutely right. I just took a look at some e-bay postings and they do not mention the name of the company in the product description at all. My favorite is "This jersey has the authentic Torres name and number 9 across the back." Gotta love it. I wonder what an "unauthentic" Torres name and number look like, he, he. But they do put up pics and close-ups of the tags and the swoosh or the Adidas logo/leaf. That does not leave much doubt what they are claiming to sell. I've decided to buy one just to compare to my replicas from soccer.com. I will post pics and any observations when I get it.
Just posting my RBNY 2007 Away Kit with some signatures from of few of the players. I didn't go for all the bigger names like Altidore cause it'd be too much of a hassel, but I did get some quality signatures from guys who've been around at the club for a bit longer.
I just received my formotion Liverpool Away kit(from last season) in the mail today. I already have the replica version, but I couldn't pass up the chance to get the real deal. It does seem to feel more comfortable then the climacool version. It's hard to see in the pic, but the seams are heat sealed.
The Formotion kits are lighter that's a fact right there..I have a warm up top, and it's a lot lighter in comparison to my clima cool one..
I received my Torres long sleeve jersey from e-bay today. It cost me $50 and I have to say that for a fake it looks pretty good. An "Official Licensed Product" tag was inclosed but not attached. It even had the plastic stem in the little paper booklet but it was definitely not in the jersey. I can't make a direct comparison since I don't own an authentic Liverpool Torres jersey but the only thing that struck me as as off was the attached tag inside the jersey--it is a generic tag with washing directions and there is no long Adidas tag that's in every Adidas jersey (the one with national flags). But aside from that, the jersey looks and fits great; that 3-D 8-shaped sticker at the bottom of the jersey actually looks better than the one on my Real Madrid jersey I bought from soccer.com. I hope it won't fall apart when I wash it.
http://myworld.ebay.com/threelion/ he doesn't have it listed now but he should soon enough. very reputable seller!
Portugal Away S/S Inter Away S/S Germany Home (Year?) S/S rest of 'em are at my dad's and yes i know, they're backwards
my school is raffleing off a signed man united shirt (all players)... and i WANT! oh and also they got a city one.
Bought just for the Champions league final Its a little too big, thinking about selling it after the final If anyone is interested...
I finally got PIRES 7 (Player size) printed on my Code 7 Arsenal away jersey, that already had Player size Champion's Patches on it! It's taken me a while to get all the bits and bobs, but it was well worth it.
Haha. I'm sorry man. But wow. As a France fan, i'm kind of disgusted by their new away jerseys. Maybe it's just me.
06-08 Arsenal Home. Henry #14 06-07 Chelski Home. 05-06 Arsenal Home. Henry #14 07-08 AC Milan Home. 06-07 Juventus Home. 06-08 Lyon Home. 07-08 Bayern Munich Home. Ribery #7 06-07 France Home. Zidane #10 07-09 France Home. 05-06 Real Madrid Home. Zidane #5 06-07 Real Madrid Home. Sergio Ramos #4 NOT SHOWN. 07-08 Real Madrid Home. Sergio Ramos #4