To think my mum bought my son a fake football strip? Pic attached

[ShesNotACowShesAFox]

My 7yo son is Ronaldo mad and a AI Nassr kit was on his list to Santa. My mum insisted on buying it as it met her budget. He loved it on Xmas day and was very grateful and I’ve only just washed it yesterday. I washed it at 30 degrees, which is much cooler than I’ve washed his other kits before when he’s played matches. However the blue colouring on the lettering has disappeared completely on the back! Pic attached - AIBU to think she’s bought him a fake kit? He’s always had football kits as presents and this has never happened. I’ve got in touch with her to ask her where it came from to see if I can return it. She said she bought it in a sports shop in France and can’t return it as she bought it in November.

For context, she is SUPER tight. She will come stay with me for a whole week, eating food I’ve paid for (which is fine, she’s a guest) but will then want the 49p for the pint of milk I’ve asked her to get for me when she’s at the shop. She’s very much a penny pincher. For clarity she isn’t poor - she retired at 48 and has been mortgage free since 40 (she’s 65 now).

Even though she knows my strong feelings on counterfeit goods and I didn’t think she’d get her grandson a fake kit but I just have a gut feeling!

Are you not just gonna ask her

To give your mum the benefit of the doubt, I think I accidentally bought a fake kit without realising it!

I buy the kits for the local team my kids support on the official club shop but one of my boys also likes a particular foreign team. I googled the shirt and found a site selling it amongst a few others, but chose this one site as it was £10 cheaper but I thought it was a black Friday deal

Anyway this was weeks ago and it still hasn't come and googling the company, it seems to have a lot of reviews saying people have either not recieved their goods or they think they are fake.

Gutted as I wouldnt purposely buy fake but like me, your mum may not have realised

I did. She said it’s from a French sports shop like sports direct. Intersport maybe? But TBH I’m reserving my trust on that one. I’ve asked her to find the receipt and she says “No point you aren’t going to visit France to return it are you”

Who cares, I’d never buy a real kit, they cost so much money, it’s a ludicrous waste. Good on your mum.

That’s unlikely to be from a French sports shop.
More likely a French market.
If so it will have cost about €15.

Yes, if she said it is the real deal and it isn't.
It's counterfeit and therefore has all the issues linked with that industry.
It also doesn't appear to be of decent quality based on the OP.

Can it be that your mum just doesn’t understand authentic v fake jerseys? Older people sometimes just don’t get it or see the difference. My own mum and Parents in law included. My pil would think nothing of buying ds a ‘kit’ while they are in Lanzarote in one of those crappy shops. Would still cost them €40 and they’d think it was great. We’d know straight away where they got it. They wouldn’t do it out of meanness.

Don’t forget that in France they are under EU regulations and therefore you have a year to return any goods that are faulty. The fading on only one wash would certainly put it into that category. europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/indexamp_en.htm

You would also be covered be UK Distance Selling regulations which also give the same assurances other than within 6 months which November is in respect of faulty goods.
www.gov.uk/accepting-returns-and-giving-refunds#:~:text=You%20must%20repair%20or%20replace,faulty%20when%20they%20bought%20it.

Use this to insist on proof of purchase - if she can’t find the receipt then ask for a statement showing the payment to the supplier (she can blank out everything else). Don’t take her avoiding proof of purchase and persist!

If she does give you proof of purchase, then you can follow it up with the supplier using the regs above.

She did...

It doesn't always do that. Shopping at Harrods funded sex crimes, are we to ban all luxury shopping?

I think you're overreacting just a tad to a damaged t shirt. Just buy another one. It's not normal to be this angry over a t shirt for a 7 year old.

Totally missing the point but where are you getting a 49p pint of milk. It’s at least 85p round here.

Not the point but with a steady hand could you fill in the letters and number with a Sharpie? I think they will withstand the washing.

I thought I was quite savvy, but got caught out TWICE on Vinted with dodgy fakes and they couldn't give a shit! I wouldn't assume it's a deliberate purchase, it's so easy to be scammed these days

Yes it’s a fake
what brand was it?
the fake ones tend to be last seasons brand which is nike

24/25 is adidas

My son also idolises CR7
He is also 7
❤️

People can buy fakes for themselves if they wish but to pick a much coveted gift from a child's Christmas wish list and give them a fake then try to pass it off as the real thing is horrendous behaviour! How terribly upsetting for the child. And yes, his friends may well have spotted this as it's so obvious in this case.

If she couldn't afford the real thing she could have chosen something else from the list. With football shirts it's best to only ever order them directly from the club's own website, or buy from the stadium shop. Nobody forced her to choose to buy this and it will potentially wreck a child's Christmas unless OP now replaces it with the real thing, or the grandparent has the decency to do so (which any normal grandparent would as they'd be mortified but I doubt will happen in this case given what the OP has said about her, quibbling over 49p for a pint of milk!!).

Also absolutely this: it's well-known that production of fake sports/ designer goods is used to fund the drug trade/ sex trafficking etc. You'd have to be totally immoral to be prepared to buy products from such people just to save a few pounds, and end up with a crappy fake anyway.

If your son likes it then just keep your nose out of it - is she genuinely "super tight" or just not prepared to (or unable to) spend ridiculous amounts of cash for the "genuine article" made in very similar sweatshop environments?

Out of curiosity, what would your moral/ethical stance have preferred she gift her grandson? 🤔

A real football strip. Obviously.

is she genuinely "super tight" or just not prepared to (or unable to) spend ridiculous amounts of cash for the "genuine article" made in very similar sweatshop environments?

Genuinely super tight

Who cares? Well OP does, as does her little lad that will be disappointed about his kit that he got as a Christmas present.

Good on her mum? Look at the state of the kit. He isn’t going to want to wear it like that so her mum has wasted however much she has spent on it. Nothing good about it.

100%a fake. Take a look on Amazon

Ah, OK, I see, so you're perfectly happy to expect her to spend £70+ on a "football top"?

Der Spiegel

Can’t we do better for our sons than this?

Yes. Because that’s her budget that SHE offered (like I said in my OP) and that’s what DS wanted, and she suggested she buy it.

Im not sure what so hard to understand?

And it was £60