We all have probably experienced this situation. You found a really nice Nike football shirt online, but you don’t know if it’s original or not. Another case might be that your football shirt has already arrived and that you doubt its authenticity. Fake shirts are becoming better every year, which makes it even harder for collectors to recognize them. Luckily, there are a few tips and tricks to check the authenticity of your Nike football shirts. Read all the ins and outs in this post.
Always check the product code
If you want to buy football shirts online, it’s really important to ask for a picture of the product code. You can find this code on the small white label on the inside of the shirt. Always make sure to type ‘Nike’ and the code in the middle (see picture). By entering this combination on Google Images, you are able to track some shirts with that specific code. Let’s apply this knowledge to one of my Nike football shirts: FC Barcelona 16/17 third. As we can see, this shirt has the following product code (just under the size L): 778854-390. Let’s go to Google Images and type in: Nike 778854-390. As we can see, the same shirt pops up in the results. This gives us the indication that the Barcelona kit I have is genuine.
But isn’t it very easy to copy this code onto fake shirts now? This is of course possible, but it’s very time-consuming. Besides that, it would be very hard to copy the exact style of the small white Nike label. Checking the product code is definitely the best method to filter out football shirts from previous seasons. The older the shirt, the worse the quality if it’s a fake jersey. Besides that, older fake shirts usually have a small Nike label that doesn’t even look like the original label.
What if my shirt comes without this small label? If your shirt doesn’t have this Nike label, it’s fake. If you bought a second-hand shirt, the previous owner maybe cut off the Nike label. This means that you will not be able to check the product code of this particular shirt. This is something you have to keep in mind when buying used shirts.
The quality of the stitching work
When it comes to quality, fake shirts may look very decent. Nevertheless, there are some small details you always have to check in order to determine the authenticity of a shirt. A good indication of the authenticity is the quality of the stitching work on the shirt. A brand-new shirt shouldn’t have loose dreads at all. Fake shirts will sometimes have some loose dreads in the stitched areas (the collar on the back for example). A genuine shirt produced by Nike rarely has this issue. This is even rarer when the shirt is completely new, and you are the first owner.
In the case that the team crest looks good from the outside, just check the inside too. Fake shirts tend to have a lot of loose dreads on the inside of the shirt. This has to do with the fact that fake shirts are usually way cheaper than original Nike football shirts. As a result, the manufacturers don’t pay as much attention to the detailing. An original Nike football shirt will almost always be flawless when it comes to both the inside and outside of the team crest and Nike logo.
Also, you have to check the finishing of the stitching work of the seamed areas of the shirt. A new and original Nike football shirt will have perfect seams without any loose dreads. The same goes for the seams under the sleeves and on the sleeves themselves. Try to check whether the quality of these seams is good. These parts have to look clean, especially if the shirt you bought is new.
The quality of the name set and sponsors
The last advice I can give you in order to recognize an original Nike football shirt has to do with the name set and sponsors. Original shirts will always have a good-looking sponsor made of high-quality material. Fake shirts tend to use cheap plastic in order to imitate the sponsor on the front of the shirt. Sometimes, the size of the sponsor may vary too. The sponsor on the fake shirt can sometimes be a bit smaller than the sponsor on the original Nike football shirt. Also, the color of the sponsor or the shirt itself can be slightly different.
Another very good indication of the authenticity of your Nike football shirt is the name set. Fake shirts usually try to copy the style of the original name set, but this is very hard. If you know what the original name set looks like, it’s fairly easy to recognize fake ones. Try to carefully take a look at the exact color of the name set. Also, you should take into account the way the team crest has been integrated into the name set. Typically, the team crest is part of the lower part of the name set. It’s quite hard to imitate this part. That’s why many fake Nike football shirts may have a slightly different team crest in the nameset.
Find your original Nike football shirt
Nike football shirts are without undoubtedly very popular. Consequently, there are a lot of fake shirts out there. As a collector, you probably want to buy original shirts only. Classic Football Shirts offers a large variety of original Nike football shirts. This makes it the perfect place to buy your original Nike football shirt.
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