When shopping for polo clothing it is very important to consider the issue of authenticity. In the case of polos the price tag for luxury brands of this article of clothing can be quite high. A savvy shopper should keep this in mind when shopping for these items. For example, luxury brands can carry a price-tag of up to 300 euros. Other famous polo brands like Ralph Lauren, Fred Perry, and Lacoste are also more expensive for polos then for regular shirts or in some cases even sweaters. With the continued rise of ecommerce and online shopping the ability for consumers to judge whether items are authentic becomes an increasingly difficult and ominous task. This is exemplified for a person’s first polo purchase.
One way to determine if your polo is authentic is to check with the brand before making any purchase. For example, if you plan to make your purchase from an online retailer or eBay, you can always send a link to the sales page to the brand company and wait for their response. The company should know if the seller is one of their distributors. Also, the company itself should know about pricing and which models were produced to know if the item is real or not.
Another method to check authenticity would be to check the price. If the price is too low compared to other sellers and the polo is advertised as new then its highly likely that the item is a replica.
Furthermore, if you are shopping on eBay its a good idea to check the feedback for the seller if the feedback is poor or the member is newly registered you should be extra careful in verifying the item as authentic.
Yet another means of verifying authenticity is to check where the seller is shipping the item from. If you are buying, for example a polo from a luxury fashion label but the item is being shipped from China you can be about 99% certain that the item must be a fake polo. The reason for this conclusion is that luxury polo brands don’t distribute their items direct from China to the consumer, and yet if it is being shipped from China it can be a bad sign since China is notorious for weak trademark enforcement and widespread counterfeiting of polos.
In conclusion, shopping for branded polo clothing is increasingly difficult due to widespread counterfeiting online. Therefore, savvy shoppers need to keep certain key factors in mind to avoid purchasing non-authentic items from unscrupulous sellers.