Playability/Durability of 'eBay jerseys'

[Sang Han Lee]

So we all know the deal with soccer jerseys on eBay being sold New With Tags for $20-$30 when it should go for about $70-$100. Of course, as with all things I think some fakes are probably better than others.

I just bought two such jerseys on eBay, mostly due to being an idiot and not reading up on the subject until after I had bid and the auctions closed.

What I'm wondering is, for those of you that have bought such jerseys in the past, whether knowingly or unknowingly, how have these jerseys held up-and even more importantly, what were they like to actually play in?

[ScottyB]

My experience with fake jerseys is that they don't breathe worth a crap. I bought one that I didn't realize/want to accept was fake at the time. I played outdoor in it and it was very hot. I sometimes play with an indoor team that sometimes uses fake jerseys. They aren't any good at all (they look okay but perform like crap).

It's worth it to get the real thing (ethical and performance reasons).

[Sang Han Lee]

It's worth it to get the real thing (ethical and performance reasons).

Yeah I definitely agree with you there after looking at the fakes firsthand. I guess they will only serve to look (somewhat) pretty if they are useless on the field.

Although the 'adidas' jersey I got looks to have mesh in all the right places (climacool), I wonder if it will actually work. Technically climacool is just strategically placed mesh right? So if they copied it exactly...

I'll probably try playing in it once and die from dehydration :rolleyes:

[soccerballnews]

I've bought several cheap ones that, if they're fakes, are pretty darn good copies. I have an Arsenal jersey that is EXACTLY like the ones I see in stores... same with an old US jersey I bought. Lots of the ones with tags are legit, probably just stolen.

[Sang Han Lee]

Mine are definitely fake, I know which tags to look for, and besides the crests on both jerseys are stitched like they were done by a one-armed drunk in the dark.

[Dr.Phil]

how legit is this

http://www.ioffer.com/i/Football-Soccer-Jersey-Bayern-Munich-Third-08-09-M-65251271

[Sang Han Lee]

how legit is this

http://www.ioffer.com/i/Football-Soccer-Jersey-Bayern-Munich-Third-08-09-M-65251271

1. M and XL sizes only. Good sign of fakes.
2. No mention of adidas even though the jersey is clearly 'made' by adidas if you see in the pics. Basically, no clear, explicit mention of brand name usually = fake.
3. I feel bad for the guy in the Questions and Offers section paying $100+ for a bunch of bootlegs. :(

[asprillialim]

I had same experiences too. I bid on something on the last minute before really go through all the description. After the auction ends, I came back and read it until then only I regret of what I had done. Some dishonest sellers, they tend to give you unclear pictures but they mention in the description that their jerseys are authentic. But, when you received the jersey you realize that it wasn't as the sellers said. When you quest them, they would just tell you that they don't even know that it is fake and they are hell of a good story tellers.

I never wear any fake jersey neither playing in it or casual wear. I just put them in my drawer. For sure, the quality isn't as good as the real deal (mostly), the stiches, the fabrics and the look of course.

About the meshes on the jersey, what Adidas's "clima cool" or "formotion", Nike "dry fit" or Puma's "USP" technology, it was just names to make it look grand. Of course we know that the more meshes on the jersey, the more breathable the jersey will be. However, the construction of the fabrics of the jersey is important. The construction of the fabrics which helps to repel sweat fast is important and the breathability of the skin through the jersey. Those fake jersey couldn't provide you with the same quality of the fabric construction that given by the real deal.

[Brady24]

Just buy the real thing...Fakes are crap...usually run about 1/2 to Full Size smaller, they try to use less material to save money....plus the numbers are junk, and peel very easily.

A friend of mine once bought a fake United Jersey....Longsleeve, with Premiership Lettering on the back with dual champions league patches on the arms, WHICH NEVER HAPPENS, buy from kitbag, onionbag, soccer.com of subside sports, spend the $, it helps support your team.

[lhooq1770]

I hate that. Some fakes can be quite similar in pics, but when you can touch them is quite different.

You don't know who you can trust on.

[Fiorentina lives!]

If it looks too good to be true and sounds too good to be true it IS too good to be true.

The good thing about studying some graphic design is that you can spot the smallest of details that tell you a jersey is fake.

Usually the shirt numbers are a giveaway. If you know typography and have a keen eye you can spot anything.

(Besides, numbers and letters have to be of a certain high-tech material to resist washing, drying, and wear. Lextras run into $25 US so that should say something.)

Then comes the colors. Example: I know what shade of purple details the Real Madrid 07-08 home jersey had. Many times I've seen fakes with the wrong shade. Next.

And of course people mentioned the shapes/construction which are usually the easiest to spot.

[Sang Han Lee]

Hey Fiorentina please fill us in on more of these small details to look for, as many as possible please!

There are plenty of dishonest sellers on eBay advertising their fake jerseys as authentic Nike/adidas/whatever. Most of the 'honest' sellers of fakes will not do this, but some guys try to pass off bootlegs as real, and even try to sell them for 60-80 bux a pop. So let us know more if you can. Thanks!

[Kot Matroskin]

Basically, Ebay shirts come in three flavors:

1) Authentic. (Essentially, the same as buying retail.)

2) Replica. (Good fake)

3) Cheap knockoff. (Bad fake)

I've bought shirts of all varieties, and I have to say that "fake" is not always bad. I have a couple of the #2 variety (Newcastle 'Owen' and Inter 'Ibrahimovic') which cost about 30$ each incl. shipping, and I absolutely can't find anything wrong with them. I've played in them, and they've both been through the washing machine several times and still look fine. The best part is that I don't worry about ruining a $100 investment.

I once bought one from category #3, but it wasn't really that bad either. It was a Barca top that looks really good, but the 'Unicef' letters and logo came off the first time it got wet. No big deal, I know you get what you pay for.

The best thing to do is look through the feedback of the person you're thinking of buying from. That'll give you a pretty good idea of what you're going to get.

[allezparis]

I don't think you can automatically call a jersey fake if someone uses the term "replica" to describe it. I would say most, if not all, of the jerseys I own are "replica" because they're not player-issue, but they're definitely NOT fake. Think of buying an Adidas regular Climacool shirt versus a player-spec Formotion shirt. Both are "authentic" products, but one is a replica.

[Kot Matroskin]

I don't think you can automatically call a jersey fake if someone uses the term "replica" to describe it. I would say most, if not all, of the jerseys I own are "replica" because they're not player-issue, but they're definitely NOT fake. Think of buying an Adidas regular Climacool shirt versus a player-spec Formotion shirt. Both are "authentic" products, but one is a replica.

You have a point. How about "Unofficial Replica"?

[Sang Han Lee]

For this discussion I would say that both Player-Issue and Official Replica shirts would fall into Kot's first category of 'Authentic.'

No one was calling Official Replicas fakes, although Kot's second category does call a fake a 'replica.' Anyway my initial question is excluding Official Replicas. I don't think I would have to worry about the Playability/Durability of Climacool anyway.

That being said, I played in one of my fake jerseys today. It didn't seem that bad, and it dried pretty quickly after I took it off, even though it was hanging in the bathroom while I was taking a shower (humid environment).

[somnambulist]

Sorry, but this ended up being a bit more long winded than I'd intended, but I'd consider it pretty helpful regardless.

When I first started collecting shirts, I only bought fakes as I couldn't afford to buy the real thing. After purchasing about 10 fakes of various teams/brands, I realized I was doing nothing but waste my money and should just save up a little while longer and buy the official jerseys with official printing. The difference between the two are astounding. Some fakes look great at first glance, but there are loads of flaws upon closer examination. I'll break them down brand by brand:

Adidas
Note: all pictures are provided as links due to their size.

The mesh inserts on the adidas fakes are often skewed and not cut properly. They're disproportionate and noticeably so. You can see, especially in the neck detailing, that it's extremely uneven. It's also thicker, stiffer and more scratchy against the skin, even after washing, than on the official adidas shirts. (As a side note, I purchased from soccer4less in 2006 when they were on eBay. I forget their eBay username now, or if they're even registered there anymore, and their shirts were all exactly like the one in this picture.) For example, a picture of an authentic Zidane jersey I purchased from onionbag, compared to a fake Trezeguet shirt from Thailand-based soccer4less.net:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t280/FourFourTwo/104_0305.jpg?t=1219309910
http://i35.tinypic.com/34gwpir.png

The ClimaCool logo and country hologram at the bottom of the shirts are floating off somewhere near the sides of the shirt, where as the authentic jersey has them tucked neatly to the immediate sides of the mesh inserts. It seems like the makers of the fakes just slap them on wherever with no regard to proper placement, as can be expected. In the picture of the Trez shirt, the logo and hologram are so far to the side you can't even see them. (I've noticed that after washing and wearing, the rubber of the hologram will bend and warp, and the actual hologram on the inside will wrinkle.) Again, the Zidane vs Trezeguet example:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t280/FourFourTwo/104_0314.jpg?t=1219309991
http://i35.tinypic.com/34gwpir.png

The tags sewn on the inside bottom of the jersey are also different. I don't have any fakes anymore to show an example of their tag, but it usually doesn't have the adidas logo on it, or if it does, it's missing the second smaller tag with the date of manufacture on it. Also, the printed neck tag won't have an RN# or a CA# as is printed on official jerseys. Many times, on the white adidas jerseys, the fakes will have the neck tag printed in black ink, whereas adidas prints theirs in white. On the Zidane jersey, an example of the RN and CA numbers, and the official inside tags:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t280/FourFourTwo/104_0308.jpg?t=1219309706
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t280/FourFourTwo/104_0311.jpg?t=1219309759
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t280/FourFourTwo/104_0312.jpg?t=1219309759

It's hard to show this in pictures, but the stitching is also way off as most people have noticed. It's done haphazardly and threads are always coming loose after washing. The printing is probably what's most terrible about these shirts. It's cheap plastic slapped on with cheaper glue and peels and cracks even when hung dry. The Premiership printing on two of my shirts was extremely thick and rubbery, along with the sleeve patches. Without the printing, the shirts are decent for using for pickup games and whatnot, as they're pretty cheap and at least you don't have to worry about ruining them. They run very small and a fake XL usually fits like an authentic large or maybe halfway between a medium and a large.

The swing tags are also quite different between the fakes and the authentic shirts. For example, my Ribery shirt came with a Spain swing tag. They're also sometimes inside out, or missing the 2 or 3 inserts that come inside of the tag telling you about the shirt technology.

The adidas fakes I have purchased are a France Ribery 06 home, France Henry 06 away, Marseille Ribery 06 home, Germany Klose 06 away, Chelsea Shevchenko 06 home, and a Chelsea Terry 06 away, all size XL.

Nike

I've only purchased two Nike fakes, an Arsenal 05/06 Henry away, and a Barcelona 05/06 longsleeve home, blank.

The printing was shiny and cheap plastic, the stitching was way off and the sewn tags weren't official, as with most other fakes. The thing that really stood out to me about these fakes was the material quality. It felt exactly like I was wearing a parachute. Very hot, sticky, and not nice at all.

I no longer own any Nike jerseys, so no pictures for this one. You can do a quick eBay search, and also a search at a place like soccerplus.net and compare the detailing that way if you'd like.

Lotto

I purchased a Shevchenko 06 Ukraine home, and the material quality was actually rather comparable to the real thing. The blue mesh inserts felt the same, but were a little skewed and weren't symmetrical from one side of the shirt to the next. The printing on this shirt was still of poor quality but held up in the wash the most compared to all the rest. The Lotto logo and Lotto sleeve patches were what drew my attention the most. They were a thick plastic, and on authentic Lotto jerseys they were a soft felt. Again, no pictures.

Puma

I bought a fake Cote d'Ivoire Drogba 06 home shirt. The material didn't feel parachutey like with the older Nike shirts, but was still hot and sticky. Lettering was plastic and cracked quite soon after purchase. Same stitching flaws as with previous brands.

I haven't bought any fakes since 2006, so I can't give you any information about the current state of any of them. Looking on eBay, though, a lot of the misplaced logos an uneven stitching appear to still be a problem for most of them. My advice is just to save up and buy the real deal. It helps out those teams and you're getting a durable, comfortable, long lasting shirt.

My experiences may be somewhat different than that of other people, especially because it depends on whose fakes you buy, but these should also be some common concerns across the board. I hope my experiences helped some of you.

[somnambulist]

Ah, I forgot one. I purchased a fake Lyon home from 06/07 by Umbro, with no name or number. It was pretty spot on appearance-wise, but the material was thicker and really shiny, unlike the real one. It didn't breathe well at all and felt heavy to play in. The Olympique Lyonnais badge fell off after one wash and I had to tack it back on with some thread. The Novotel sponsor was the worst. It was thick, rubbery, and stuck to you if you played in it for any length of time.

[somnambulist]

Looking through my eBay feedback I remembered yet another I bought. This was by far the most terrible fake I ever purchased, and also my first fake. It was definitely the "way too good to be true" deal, and unfortunately for me I didn't realize it until I received the kits. I was also on dial-up at the time and by accident I purchased 2 kits, so I ended up spending $80 on utter garbage. The material is thick and scratchy, the printing shrivels and peels off, and it's just horrible all around. I can't believe I made such a stupid mistake. An example:

http://rover.ebay.com/ar/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?mpt=%5BCacheBuster%5D&adtype=1&size=1x1&type=4&campid=5336051358&toolid=10001&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2F08-EURO-FRANCE-ZIDANE-10-Home-Combo-S-M-L-XL-VINTAGE_W0QQitemZ220271050060QQihZ012QQcategoryZ2914QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemhttp://tinyurl.com/5ay42w

Mine was a World Cup 06 France kit. Another stupid oversight on my part was the fact that the material didn't have the channels in it like the 2006 authentic shirts did. It was even noticeable in the pictures and I still went ahead and bought it. They went by jersey628a at the time, but now they have various eBay accounts.

[asprillialim]

As much to say, those fake jerseys are sometimes hard to be examine by merely just the picture itself. You have to get a close look at it in order to verify. In order not to get cheated by those dishonest sellers, you should be cautious and hold on to below principles:

1. Study the jersey, it is easy by stopping by at the official retail store to have a look with the real deal and look on the online store pictures. Remember all the details!!! It will help you to define the authentic and the fake.

2. Don't be so convince with the "too good to be true" deal, especially on the ebay. Try to ask as many questions as possible and request for pictures.

3. Sometimes you have to make an agreement with the sellers that if you find that the jersey is fake, you will look for refund. If the sellers reply you with absolute agreement, there is a pretty good chance that the deal is valid. If the sellers never reply you any after, then you know the case.

4. Check the seller's reputation or feedback. See if there is any buyer complaining about the jersey they had bought.

5. Get some information and guide from anyone who had experience in dealing with jersey especially those vintage jerseys because you probably won't be able to have much pictures to study upon on and you couldn't find one in the retail store. You can try in this forum or others as I'm sure there will be some community could help you about it.

6. Sometimes, you will get wise after you were been fooled. But, never repeat the same mistake twice.

7. If you are a collector like me, you can have one or two fake jersey (either you accidentally bought it fake on ebay, or you willing to buy it or get from anywhere you can) and try to study the fake jersey details. If you think you are not such fanatic in collecting that would have made you to buy fake jersey to study them. Then go to those fake jerseys pictures and study them. I'm not joking. This absolutely helps. To know what you are dealing with, you must study them.

8. Always remember to read the description and read the whole article before you buying or bidding it.

There is no way you will ever can catch up to the development of the fake jersey. It is because they will try to produce the fake jersey to be as real as possible. Basically, official jersey design will be changed for like every two years. Everytime the new model comes out, you have to study them yet all over again, as you may not know how will the fake jersey ever be looked like as you just finished study the old model today but the new model is coming out by tomorrow and you got to do the work all over again.