Counterfeit football shirts have long been a way for supporters to wear their club’s gear, without having to pay full prices. However, fans who wear fake kits have been warned of a potential ‘health risk’ over their clothing choices.
Premier League clubs such as Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Liverpool all charge £85 for their official shirts, but fake copies can cost a fraction of the price. As such, it’s not hard to see why fans are often tempted to go with the cheaper option.
In a recent interview with BBC Sport, experts have explained why it may be best to avoid the counterfeit designs.
Fake Shirts May Have ‘Harmful Toxins’
Louise Baxter-Scott from Trading Standards explained that due to lake of information about how these kits are made, there’s an obvious health concern. She said: “We just don’t know what’s in these kits – they could pose a health risk.
“They are poorly made but look legitimate, and the pressure of Christmas, plus the increase in cost of living creates a greater consumer vulnerability and pushes people towards a cheaper alternative.”
In the same article, Chloe Long, deputy director general at the Anti-Counterfeiting Group, issued a similar warning. She noted that the kits could cause those wearing them to come out in a rash:
“Wearing that strip could cause irritation. It could even cause more significant problems – particularly if harmful toxins or dyes are used to manufacture those products.”
Research Long revealed that the supply chain of counterfeits often originate from factories in China. When asked if there is evidence of toxins in the fake kits, she says: “It’s very difficult to know retrospectively what’s been put into the product, but you can see in some instances that they could be harmful.
“And they don’t follow any regulations. They’re not bound by the same legalities and regulations the genuine manufacturers are.”
Long claimed that the counterfeiters have no morals, no standards, and the only thing they are motivated by is price, adding:
“Whatever they can get their hands on to make this look as close to the real thing as possible, they will do that. So you don’t know what could happen when you put that in the washing machine with other products and, particularly if you’re buying it for children, this is just not a risk that you should be taking.”
In repsonse to the artice, however, the Athletic’s Colin Millar pointed out that fake football kits would not be so popular if the real ones weren’t so expensive. He wrote: “The real headline in this article is how a replica football kit costs £10 to make but is sold at £85 (£120 to personalise it). The morality of average fans – many of whom are buying for young children – is far less interesting than the insane mark-up margins from corporations.”
Selling Fake Kits Can End In 10 Year Prison Sentence
Perhaps surprisingly – as fake kits are so easy to find – while it is not illegal to buy them in the UK, it is against the law to sell them. Anyone caught could face a prison term of 10 years and an unlimited fine. Per the BBC report, the Premier League revealed its anti-counterfeiting programme helped seize 1.1 million items, worth more than £70m, for the period covering the 2020-21 to 2024-25 seasons.
On top of that, it also helped remove more than a million online listings of fake products – which held an estimated value of £20.4m. It will come as little surpise to learn that, according to the Home Office, evidence suggests that sales of fake kits spike in the lead-up to tournaments, with a rise expected before the 2026 World Cup.
