To counterfeit my daughters Christmas presents?

[Wazzitnow]

OK, so she's into some obscure person ATM. Shes autistic and her people of interest changes bi yearly.

Right now it's this person who has a clothing range that is only available in the USA and is crazy expensive. $100 for a hoodie "$40 for a Tshirt type thing.

She's never seen his merch in real life and it's really cheap iron on kind of stuff.

And his inside label tag is very simple.

I have a printing machine and could very easily forge the items and make the label for inside the collar too.

I don't want to spend that much money on some obscure Tshirt with 1 word on just for the label.

But in true autistic teen style this is all she wants.

I'd get charged import fees too.

It's unlikely she would ever know because ei doubt she will ever come across a real piece of merch from him

And the style he has along with the label he has means it would be super easy to make and there would really be no way for her to know.

I wouldn't be selling them obviously. Just a few items, couple of Tshirts and a hoodie for her.

Would be around £35 quid instead of £200+!

And I know she won't be into him by summer either which makes me even more reluctant.

Honestly I can't see why being autistic means you have to pull the wool over her eyes. Like other posters have said surely you can tell her the reality of things ie far too expensive - she sounds as if she has capacity to understand this. We'd all love to give our kids the earth at Christmas but they need be realistic with their wants.
If you decide to go ahead anyway never ever tell her what you did.

This year you're planning to trick her into thinking you've spent hundreds more than you have, so in the future she'll figure that's your spending budget. So don't be surprised when she thinks you care less about her if the next big ticket item can't be counterfeit and you have to tell her no.

I could have written this post! My ASD daughter is exactly the same. I'd definitely do this if I could!

Is she an only child? If not, my worry would be that any siblings will see everything she gets & assess based on value of the genuine items & feel they’ve not got the same. Similarly if she is an only child she could do the same & it puts her expectations up for birthday/next Christmas. You mentioned in a previous comment about the cake you did this with too. Again, she thinks you spent £150 on a birthday cake so there’s an expectation been set there. Do you ever say no to her & explain things are too expensive? It’s not a bad thing for kids to learn to hear. Even if she’s not old enough yet to be doing the maths re value, being told no occasionally is a lesson worth learning.

Blimey wish I'd thought of that with my autistic dd 🤦 would have save her and I hundreds of pounds over the years 😫. Currently have about 10 unopened CDs of various K-pop bands that she now wants to sell. Arrgghh

My mum used to do stuff like this.
i’m ND and could spot a fake a mile off!

Is buying secondhand locally an option? If it was 1990 it wouldn't be a problem, but in 2023 for online merch I think it's very likely she will be able to tell, especially if she's that obsessed.

unlikely she would ever know because ei doubt she will ever come across a real piece of merch from him – surely there will be lots and lots and lots of people posting unboxing / tryout / review vlogs, TikToks, IGs, etc? That will be close up and in detail, and can be paused, replayed, zoomed into and so on if a detail catches her eye?

And she may not post things on social media but surely she has basic access to the Internet, like Youtube and stuff? Otherwise how did she even discover this celeb?

It's up to you at the end of the day.

Personally I explain to my child, if I can't afford something she asks for, I find it's helpful for teaching about financial responsibilities, money management etc.

However when she asks me for something that I can afford, but just think isn't worth the money.
I look inside myself & remember what it was like when I was that age and how it would have felt in those circumstances. Even though it might feel like a waste of money to me, I remember being a teen and having certain things bring me so much joy that would not my parents or others, so I think if I can afford it and its something she really wants then that makes it's worth it for me.

I always try to put myself in my teenage daughtes position with a lot of things, try to remember how things felt for me at that age. Because although now as an adult it's easy to say certain things are not really important in life, but to a teenager it really is important, whatever their thing us at the time. Its biology, teenagers brains just aren't functioning the same as us as adults, and hormones etc, all their feelings are very real & are important at that time to them. I feel its so helpful to remember this when parenting a teen.

Also this

Do it! My friend did similar she got it printed onto a hoodie via one of the online places that put photos onto hoodies etc and her 10 yr old can’t tell the difference. Is it wrong- yes maybe but I also think it’s wrong that these so called influencers are allowed to charge so much for what will no doubt be made of rubbish material! There are certain things i would pay out for but not these

Absolutely do it - but don’t get caught by your DD actually doing it!!!

My daughter is autistic and has asked for ridiculously overpriced stuff from her favourite you tubers (also changes regularly) and I did the same as you or I found ‘reps’ as the kids call them, and she was super happy with her presents and I wasn’t super skint. And Im sure the quality will be better too if you do it yourself. Good luck 😊

Hmmm

I say do it - definitely. She wants the item not the authenticity. However, if she ever asks you directly, tell her the truth. Don’t lie to an autistic person - it could make her not trust you for a very long time.

Why would she be doing it because the daughter is autistic? That explained the revolving interests, not the reason for making an item. Just don’t lie if ever asked directly.

Did you mind?

A big part of it will be knowing it came from them. Knowing they made it and touched it. Mums counterfeit is shit in comparison and she'd probably rather not have it at all.

I would give her money towards it so she can save up for it. If she's still obsessed by the time she has the money, then she can buy it. But she may think twice if actually it's going to cost all her Christmas money and her pocket money for a while.

Oh I’d totally do it!

Very valid input at that. Amazed how may people are so comfortable lying to their kids.

Vinted may help?

My DD is hyper-fixated on clothes from Hot Topic in the US but from that whole MySpace era 2006/2008. They also like some modern stuff and some Skelanimals that you can't even buy anymore
Bought a fake bag off eBay and Vinted has been a godsend for the tops. I would not have an issue copying some if it made her happy and I had the skills.

Mine wanted a pink hoodie with a weird piece of artwork and the words tax evasion on. I bought the original because of the artwork. A hoodie with just tax evasion written on it though? I'd have probably got it done locally.

I'd say you wanted to make sure it had a nice fabric if questioned... Nothing worse than scratchy fabric.

I had a not dissimilar situation last year and would advocate being open with the daughter. My children are both ND.

DD was desperate for a costume of a specific Marvel character. Official versions are only marketed in child sizes and while she's a preteen, she's very tall. I explained to her that we could not buy one in her size and would a homemade one be OK? She said yes, and we had fun putting the finishing touches on the outfit (she got all the parts to unwrap). It helps that in the comics the costume is meant to be improvised by the character too, so we were able to get pretty close.

DS (autistic) would actually rather have a cheapo version of something as he hates to waste money and will get anxious if he thinks people are spending a lot on him. He's been very happy with secondhand computer games and plain T-shirts or baseball caps with sew-on patches representing his interests (you often can't buy clothing for these specific things, but Etsy has tons of patches available). He knows what they are and where they come from.

This is a bad thing to do for so many reasons. First of all your child will know. The majority of people with ASD will have likely researched the item of clothing down to the last detail. Possibly including thread count, what the label is made of etc , to the tiniest detail. You said your DD is not on social media, but clearly is able to research what she wants online. I don't claim to know your daughter, but I do know mine, and even if I've got this wrong, if she ever finds out what you did at best you are going to look very sheepish but at worst you will have lost your DD's trust. I understand your reasoning but honestly, if you don't want to buy these for her because of the costs ( which is a perfectly good reason) then you should explain that, rather than try to trick her.
I'm not even going to start on design theft etc. You may (justifiably) feel that the items are overpriced - many things are, but that IS the price, and making a counterfeit copy is morally and legally wrong.
Maybe you should discuss this with your DD, and if you do decide to make fake copies for her at least do it with her knowledge and agreement. Trust me, if you don't, and it backfires you will regret it.