To understand what a fake Arsenal logo looks like, see the following comparison image. When placed side by side, it’s clear which crest is fake. The inconsistent spacing around red portion of the inner shield, the warped text and jagged edges around the white lines in particular are giveaways, and the majority of fake crests aren’t even as ‘good’ as this one. Briefly touching on swing tags again, avoid any tags with years that are drastically different to the shirt you’re supposedly looking it. The shirt below claims to be the legendary 1995 away as worn by the likes of Denis Bergkamp, but if you zoom in on the tags you’ll see a modern and generic looking tag with the year 2015 clearly printed on it. For the first example, a shirt pretending to be the 2019 Ajax away shirt brings up a random selection of adidas kits and crucially, nothing Ajax related. The second code is on a label which is in itself a warning sign due to the fact it’s upside down on the collar, but a search for “CW1526” confirms suspicions with results for the Colombia 2018 shirt (a favourite for fake producers) instead of the Juventus shirt it’s supposed to be. Tags Product codes are simply invaluable when trying to identify a fake shirt. Though the quality of fake kits has risen considerably over the years, I’ve never come across a fake that’s used the correct product code. Finally, a word on printing. Player printing is popular, especially on older shirts, but avoid any shirts with thin and overly creased name and numbers. Styles have varied over the years, but fake printing is easy to spot in the majority of cases.

Like their rivals Nike, adidas do a good job of providing an easily accessible code across all their shirts. The code (also known as an International Article Number), found on a small tag usually on the inside of the collar, is 6 digits long consisting of 2 letters and 4 numbers.

Russia 2018

Genuine shirts will have some sort of abbreviation for the club or country the shirt is from, like the picture below for an LAFC shirt. Below are a couple of photos showing what a genuine adidas logo looks like, on both a replica and player issue. Notice details like the fact the wordmark portion of the logo touches the bottom of the stripes, and the consistent kerning (spacing between characters). There are lots more shirts out there with this code. I would expect it is the same factory that is producing all these fakes and using the same codes for all of them. Always ask the buyer to see this label. The vast majority of fake Nike United shirts from the 2000s will not have this label at all.

This is a trending fake code that is being commonly used across many fake shirts from the last few years and is still being used now. CW1526 Correct Adidas Shirt

Colombia

The Arsenal crest is one of the most recognisable in all of football, and though it’s undergone a series of iterations over the decades (see the image below), you’ll immediately recognise the design.

Enough gushing about Arsenal though, we’re here to talk about fake Arsenal shirts. How do you avoid buying a fake Arsenal football shirt, in what is becoming an increasingly difficult market to navigate. We’ve looked at fake shirts from various brands in the past, but this guide will focus exclusively on Arsenal covering shirts from different decades. Nike Now let’s take a look at some fakes. The vast majority of fakes slip up in the area of the adi logo, and before long you’ll probably be able to distinguish between a genuine shirt and a counterfeit on this area alone.

adidas Colombia Home Jersey 2018-19

I process a large number of football shirts monthly and get used to seeing the fake codes. This code is still doing the rounds and I've recently seen it on a "new in bag" 2021/2022 Manchester United away shirt!

For the first picture (blue logo on white shirt), notice how there’s a trailing stitch between the letters of the logo. The typeface is also too thin, and the adidas stripes are slightly wonky. There are similar issues with the second picture (Ajax away), with the additional telltale sign of the logo pulling the surrounding areas of the shirt together. These photos from a replica LAFC shirt show an application detail on the bottom right, and no authenticity tag on the left but the material type tag instead. The shirt is genuine, as confirmed by the details of the shirt, the product code and the original tags, so bear that in mind. As discussed, Arsenal have enjoyed each of the ‘big 3’ manufacturers over the years, and for any adidas, Nike or Puma Arsenal shirt you can use the brand logo as a reference point when deciding if something is fake or not. In the 00s, Nike stole the show clothing the Invincibles and rolling out the red carpet in the form of the maroon Highbury tribute shirt. Although we can largely skip over the Puma era (nobody's perfect), adidas part 2 has already been a resounding success. Whatever happens, Arsenal have the best trio of shirts in the Premier League this season.Whilst we’re on this photo, notice also the difference on the swing tags. We’ll cover them again in the next point, but see how the tags on the right shirt states a generic “ADIDAS JSY”, rather than any mention of Arsenal. Fake tags will always go down this generic route, so keep an eye out for that.