Quote:
Originally Posted by Duluth Eskimo
They’re not garbage jerseys, the jerseys look to be real jerseys from Mitchell & Ness. I completely agree that the DiMaggio is garbage, but I would be interested to here more detail why you guys think the Mantle and Williams are bad. You have to take in some account for writing on fabric. I used to have a wholesale account with Mitchell and Ness in the early 90’s and used to get a fair number of jerseys signed. I have not seen that particular neck tag, but they were a very small company in the early 90’s. I get the feeling my question will likely go unanswered, but if someone wants to go in to greater detail I’m all ears.
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Those are fake jerseys from China. Made within the last 5 years. I've ordered several before to wear around and not care about damaging or staining a real jersey. They cost $20 (less in bulk.) They look very real if you don't know what a real jersey looks and feels like. They put all the tags on them, in all the right places, and with similar colors and fonts. Even a generic hologram on the label.
The biggest tell is the fabric. It's cheap, flimsy, and smooth to the touch. The real M&N Yankees jerseys have a sturdier wool-like fabric like the real ones from the 50's. The shoulder patches on the fakes are plastic-y and stiff. Look at the stitching on the labels. Some aren't straight and don't even have the sides stitched at all. The letters and the numbers are also cheap pieces of felt stitched on with a single line of thread, unlike the real jerseys which are cross stitched all around. The differences are very subtle. That's why they're deceptive.
Forgers do this because they know the jersey will fool 99% of buyers, who likely don't know what a $300 Mitchell & Ness jersey looks like. Also for economic reasons. The forgers likely ordered a bulk shipment of these (it's not hard, just e-mail the vendors in the sweatshop factory and you can get the price down to less than $15 each) and scribbled away, not caring if they ruined a few. You think they're going to order $300 jerseys from the MLB Shop and take Sharpies to them? No way...