Special Report
counterfeit football shirts damaging the print industry?
Are
With England having reached the Euro 2024 final against Spain, counterfeit football shirts are increasingly becoming a sought-after alternative. But how will this impact the future of the print industry? P&P assistant editor, Cameron Beech, finds out more.
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ccording to data published by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), the economy annually loses £9 billion to counterfeiting and piracy, as well as 80,500 annual job losses. IPO’s data revealed that three in 10 adults surveyed (29%) reported having ever purchased a counterfeit item, with 17% saying they do so on either an often, a sometimes or an occasional basis.
Counterfeiting has reached such a level that according to The United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, counterfeiting is now the second largest source of criminal income worldwide.
The scale and magnitude of counterfeiting has been witnessed in real time throughout the duration of Euro 2024.
Counterfeit football shirts seized
A report published by the City of London police revealed that £98,300 of counterfeit football shirts had been seized across the country, resulting in eight arrests, during Euro 2024. Individuals were arrested by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) for offences pertaining to the selling and
| 30 | August 2024
distribution of counterfeit goods. Within the report, Emma Warbey, detective chief inspector at PIPCU, said: “We’re sending a clear message that the links between counterfeiting and other crime, alongside the low quality of counterfeit products, can never amount to a good deal.”
Additionally, the report unveiled that five people were arrested during raids at a shop and five residential addresses in Camden, north London. Around 6,000 counterfeit items, including £9,600 worth of Euro 2024 shirts, were seized, and those arrested have been released under investigation.
Another report, this time by the City of Stoke-on-Trent, revealed that 178 fake football items were seized by Stoke-on-Trent Trading Standards hours before England kicked off their Euro 2024 match against Denmark. Data from the report showed the seized items had a street value of over £3,500 and a genuine retail value of over £15,000. The teams included were England, Spain, Brazil, Manchester United and Newcastle United.
Authentic vs fake In March, content creator and self-proclaimed football shirt collector, @fitbawshirts, took to social
media platform, TikTok, to review a counterfeit copy of the special edition Borussia Dortmund Null Neon shirt from the 2020 season.
When visually comparing the authentic and counterfeit copies, the difference was not obvious at first. However, after beginning to look at the finer details, the differences became starkly apparent. The special edition football shirt depicted the club’s legends who won the Champions League in 1997. On the authentic shirt, the depictions of the individual players were clear and legible. On the fake shirt, however, players were upside down, and it was unclear which players were which.
Additionally, there was a marked difference in the quality of the lettering on the back of the shirt. Fitbawshirts further noted that the lettering on the fake does not reach across both shoulders, as it does on the authentic shirt.
With the rise of police intervention and frequent seizures, only time will tell if there will be a significant clamp down on counterfeit football shirts.
• Turn to the next page to read about industry opinions on counterfeit football shirts
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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