Pic : The counterfeit Manchester United shirt (left) looks almost identical to the replica (right) - BBC
There was once a time, football jerseys were an item we just loved, a prized possesion, something valuable, not that it isn't anymore, but in the past in a galaxy far far away (in 1970s and 1980s on planet earth) kits by clubs did not change every season. You could have the same jersey for three seasons and still not be out of fashion, that now in this digital era is not the case anymore. Clubs and apparel manufacturers milk the fans in everyway possible by changing the kit every season. Manchester United only had a badge or logo in the early 1970s, fashioned after a rugby team from Salford. The idea of the logo and the nickname Red Devils came from the then legendary manager Sir Matt Busby. The Salford rugby team did a tour of France and were labelled by the French press ‘Les Diables Rouges’ the Red Devils due to their red shirts.
Some clubs did not have even a logo once, but now that is not the case, jerseys are the apex of clubs' merchandise. When globalisation happend many people especially in Asia thought that prices for football jerseys and boots would come down, it never did. Despite manufacturing bases in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand etc the prices was still the same- Expensive for Asians.
The cost intially came down, but the prices are still exorbitant but now even fans in England and Europe complain about it. fans in Malaysia need to fork out almost RM 500 for a jersey! Fans in England pay about £85 or £65. If supporters in England think it is expemsive, think what it is for fans in Asia, RM 500 local pricing in Malaysia is as good as Sterling Pound in the UK for UK residents. We can understand that one price in the UK cannot be the same in another country in Asia or anywhere else due to currency differences, but it still can be standardised and profits can be made, can it?
According to PR and Marketing expert, Dr. Peter Rohlmann the Break down is :
If you look at the chart above the retailers and manufacturers, retailers can reduce this price at least by £10, manufacturer can maybe reduce it further, but this (manufacturer) is not going to happen because of the economics of it or manufacturing cost. The tie-ups and agreements with clubs further complicates it with Clubs signing off the rights to Adidas, Nike, Puma, etc these companies dictate pricing due to sponsorship deals. This might be diferent from clubs in the lower division, but we are talking about what makes the world go round, the elite level. Clubs are happy with this as they also get a large sum from the shirt sponsor emblazoned on the front of their jersey and would not mind signing off the logistics and sales of the jersey by a company like Nike.
Loss and gain
Everything hit the roof in 2000 when on September 27, Manchester United and Nike signed a world record deal of £302.9 million for over 13 years with extra income from a profit share agreement merchandise sold worldwide. That deal is no more with United now having Adidas as kit sponsor. Because kits being expensive, piracy has flourished, with Premier League clubs, losing an estimated £246 million in football shirt sales per year.
This is only for Premier League clubs, if you count other clubs outside of the UK, it goes to billions. The cost of manufacturing is also going up in China and massive shifts are now occurring with many companies from China relocating to Africa, in the future this might include massive relocation of football jerseys, but that has not happened yet. Jerseys are the symbol of the club, it is a walking advertisement, to see how twisted it is, shirt sponsors like Standard Chartered or Snap Dragon) and even the club itself still get the eyeballs despite it being knockoffs.
Piracy however have other hdden dangers, sub-standard materials are being used, though through my observation you can see the colour fading off, this was in the past, knock-offs have got better. However this does not mean that the chemicals used for dye are not harmful and when mixed in the washing machine. It could be harmful for the skin, but it really is hard to know. Kit Designer Rob Warner says that it might be hard to distinguish a fake one with an original and admits that fake ones have got better, but he said that a lot of thought and research has gone into the designing of an original kit and gives analogy of walking into a posh restaurant to eat steak as opposed to a normal cafe with a cheap price.
How to spot a fake
Pirated goods can be found out easily, each shirt have a code and when you type it on the search engine, the image of that shirt comes up, if you see a different shirt, it means it is fake. Another way is that fake shirts have a tick on the label as in the factory a person physically checks it and ticks with a pen.
Jerseys are big business and despite the harmfulness of chemicals of fake jerseys, this is not going to go away anytime soon. In the UK it is not a criminal offence to buy pirated goods, but it is to sell. Elsewhere in Malaysia it is criminal either way, but the government have been relaxed on this. Some consumers don't even know that it is pirated goods, but sites like Shopee and Lazada continue to sell fake goods with governments in South-East Asia not banning these organisations.
The solution? If pirated goods are causing somuch of loses financially and socially, why not bring the price down to something more affordable? This would flatten the pirates, but yes easier said than done, the greed is good philosophy is out and this genie is going to be hard to get back into the bottle.
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