Due to Son Heung-min's popularity, 'Fake Uniforms' Sold at Half Price... Please Don't Ask If They Are Genuine

Selling 200,000 Won Genuine Products for Around 60,000 Won
Avoiding Responsibility by Using Overseas Purchase Agency as a Front

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] As the popularity of soccer player Son Heung-min rises, uniforms of his club team Tottenham and the national team are being counterfeited and sold as so-called 'knockoffs' on online shopping malls and other platforms.

As of the 15th, searching for 'Tottenham' or 'Son Heung-min' on online shopping malls including Naver Smart Store and social networking services (SNS) yields hundreds of posts selling uniforms. Many of these are promotional posts for national team and professional soccer team uniforms.

Most of these are not genuine uniforms released by the respective brands. They have been identified as custom uniforms with logos or printing requested by the orderer, replicas that directly copy the design, or knockoffs packaged as parallel imports. Some products even have logos of famous brands such as Nike, Adidas, or Puma printed or embroidered, giving the impression of authenticity. Some products use similar fabric, making it difficult for the general public to distinguish.

These products are sold at prices lower than the genuine uniform prices of 100,000 to 200,000 KRW. For example, the new uniform for the next season of Tottenham Hotspur, Son Heung-min’s club team, is sold for over 200,000 KRW on the official website, but some domestic online shopping malls sell them from the 20,000 KRW range up to the high 60,000 KRW range. All are counterfeit uniforms.

All counterfeit products that are not genuine uniforms directly produced by the companies are strictly illegal to manufacture, sell, or possess. Under current trademark law, the following acts are prohibited: ▲using a registered trademark identical to another’s on similar goods ▲using a trademark similar to another’s on identical or similar goods ▲distributing, selling, counterfeiting, or possessing identical or similar trademarks ▲manufacturing, distributing, selling, or possessing tools for such acts ▲possessing goods bearing identical or similar trademarks for transfer or delivery. Violators face imprisonment of up to seven years or fines up to 100 million KRW.

Sellers emphasize that these are 'overseas purchase agency' products. One seller on Naver Smart Store states in the product description that it is an 'overseas purchase product' and declines inquiries about authenticity. This is a kind of 'trick' to reduce legal responsibility by claiming they simply import and distribute products made overseas without direct production.

An online shopping mall official said, "We continuously monitor illegal products and immediately suspend sales when counterfeit uniforms are found," but added, "Because products are registered so quickly, we cannot block 100% of them."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.