Fake WC fan cricket gear puts spike in original sales
14 Feb '11
2 min read
Fake fan cricket gear is expected to overtake sales of official cricket gear, during the six-week long World Cup (WC) jamboree to be held from February 19.
Two-thirds of the cricket paraphernalia like t-shirts, jerseys, caps etc. expected to be sold in the Indian market is anticipated to be fake
Kishore Biyani-led Future Group is the official licensee for the World Cup fan gear in India and has placed orders for around 250,000 units with various knitting manufacturers in Ludhiana, a knitting hub in North India.
According to a knitter in Ludhiana, orders for the official cricket gear total to just 250,000 units, while the overall market is for over one million units, the rest accounted for by fakes.
The fake cricket gears will be sold at one-fourth the retail price charged by retailers selling the official licensee gear.
Mr Arun Dhand, Promoter of Ankita International and one of the producers who has received orders from Futures Group said, “We are making only t-shirts of all the countries that are participating and the order is for about 50,000 t-shirts”.
When quizzed about the loss to the official licensees from sale of fake gear, he informed that the loss is to the tune of around 60-70% of overall sales.