Why Not to Buy Fakes Part 9

We've so far in this series look at how ridiculous fakes can get, including some that just make you say "how could anyone fall for this?" However not all fakes are like this. Some do an okay job at replicating what they are trying to imitate, and while they ALWAYS have tells, they could fool someone who doesn't know hockey jerseys. You see, as with most fakes, the core demographic these are marketed towards is not people looking for cheaper versions of what already exists, but rather people who are turned off by the high prices of jerseys and find a cheaper variant, not knowing what they're getting into. Of course these fakes are still obvious to tell, if you know what you're looking for, but for those who don't, these make great examples of what to look for!

Example 1. 

On the surface, this looks legit. The collar is not oversized beyond belief, numbers are correct as is the logo, and it has the Vector logo so we know that's right. The tells with this are a little more difficult because they require knowledge of this jersey. The font on the namebar is similar, but the letters are too thin. The blue in the Leafs logo is a different shade, as is the little blue sliver between the two white parts of the numbers. For those who don't know this jersey, the designer felt they needed to take liberties with this jersey's original pyjama design, and add some much needed colour to the cuffs. These did not exist on the original jersey. On top of this, the difference in curve between the front and back is off, and the primary logo is much too large. Unless this is authentic or the seller expressly says they cut the jock tag off themselves, then this jersey should have one. 

It is understandably to see someone falling for this, it looks in many ways to be legit. The key is in the details!

This next one is one of the very few fakes I have to think for a second if it really was fake. The only ways to tell is in details even deeper than these. 

I know what some of you are saying, it's not fake! Sure it's a bad customizing job, but that doesn't make it fake, it eve has the proper tag on the inside of the collar. I'll show you some details and you'll see that this jersey is in fact quite fake

Fake jerseys almost never have these tags on them, since only premier jerseys have them and often to spur sales, fake jersey suppliers make "authentic" jerseys, as in fight strap on the inside back and no jock tag. For some, this may be enough to say it's really. Look at the stitch job?! It's crooked, almost like a Friday Special, but the Reebok Premier jerseys make the stitching very tight on them on purpose so they are difficult to remove without a pair of good thread cutters. On top of that the NHL shield is much too thick at the bottom, mainly due to an extra outline added to the shield. Still, this would through a lot of people off, including how similar this fake edge material and true edge material look

This was another section I struggled with to see if it was real or fake. Because of how folder up it is, it's hard to tell. Since this is a Heritage Classic jersey, it might be tempting to think that they would use a fully stitched patch, even on a premier jersey. However, sadly they did not have stitched patches on these jerseys TO MY KNOWLEDGE. The yoke here it also incorrect, as there was piping on the yoke outline, but was made beige, same colour as the jersey. 

Here we can see the numbers are crooked. That can happen from time to time on any jersey through human error or ordering jerseys pre-customized off NHL Shop. However on those jerseys, the stitching from the arm stripe being sewn to the upper arm is not running through the bottom outline of the number. On top of that that stitch does NOT line up with the arm striping itself. For some reason they feel the need to put the numbers on that part of the jersey before the jersey was actually assembled, which is just plain weird. 

So there you have it, a couple examples of better quality fakes, but at the end of the day, they are still fakes.