Counterfeit clothing and equipment – a warning!

We have been aware of fake branded clothing for some time but after being brought a copy of a North Face ladies down jacket we'd like to alert you to the dangers of buying kit from anywhere other than a reputable retailer.

A customer of ours had been lent a garment that a friend had bought quite legitimately on eBay. Out of the goodness of her heart she had washed the garment before returning it using the proper procedure for a down jacket. The jacket immediately began to smell very badly and she contacted North Face for advice who suggested returning it to her nearest North Face Dealer – ourselves.

We inspected the garment carefully and very quickly identified it as a rip-off. This probably wouldn't have been apparent to many people but the sad fact is that these garments are made out of substandard materials that don't perform properly – this particular example wouldn't have even been waterproof and was filled with something that definitely wasn't high quality, hygienic goosedown as in the genuine article. This could have some serious health implications that probably don't bear thinking about! A piece of kit such as a mountaineering jacket, tent or sleeping bag that isn't what is says it is could potentially injure or at worst kill an unsuspecting user who is trusting it to perform in extreme conditions.

I jumped onto the Internet to find out how prevalent this faking and copying is and wasn't surprised to find that it's fairly big business and a favourite medium of merchants is allegedly eBay. I have bought kit using eBay and armed with some 'streetwise savvy' and some commonsense it can be a great way of getting a bargain. The moral which I am always reminded of in situations like this is:

IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE THEN IT USUALLY IS!

Have a look at the following site which was constructed by a gentleman who was duped into buying counterfeit North Face clothing. It's very informative and gives some good pointers to identify a fake product. From what we're told the problem is big enough for North Face alone to employ staff to track down this illicit manufacture of copy products.

http://www.thenorthfaceguru.com

Don't rely on the fact that the product you've just bought has new labels on it – this is part and parcel of the counterfeiting industry. In fact sometimes the copiers seem to overdo the labelling and branding. A jacket we came into contact with had the esteemed 'Summit Series' logo embroidered onto the sleeve – a lovely job... Unfortunately, that particular garment wasn't even a Summit Series product!

On the flipside of these warnings it should be noted that there are many highly reputable people dealing on eBay and I found some from the UK who were selling genuine North Face product both new and second hand. Probably the best rule of thumb for UK buyers is not to trade with overseas sellers if there's any possibility of doubt and request some proof of identity that can be verified.

We have reported our findings to North Face but be aware that other similar brands are probably also copied so be careful buying from anyone you haven't heard of or dealt with before. To be completely safe, contact the manufacturer for the name of your local authorised stockist and help kill the piracy which long term will hurt everyone's wallet!