Shanghai shopping mall offers a Minnesota surprise supplies: $16 Brett Favre Vikings jersey


FTFY, Subby.

Maybe it was a leftover from last year.

Sword and Shield: Knockoff dealers always have interesting things. I saw that Favre jersey last week at a dealer site out of Malaysia, and they also had a Marian Hossa #18 Wings jersey. Problem is, Hossa wore #81 for Detroit.

Well, the article specifically mentioned the quality and the vendor hinted it was from the same factory actually making jerseys for Reebok.

More than likely, Reebok asked for a test run of Favre jerseys and the factory took that and ran with it, producing a lot more than the small sample the execs wanted.

The fact that the vendor was making a good profit at $16 and that Reebok sells the exact same thing for $250 says a lot about the sort of profit they make, though.

deltabourne: LesserEvil: The fact that the vendor was making a good profit at $16 and that Reebok sells the exact same thing for $250 says a lot about the sort of profit they make, though.

I too don't understand that licensing and doing business legally costs more than producing shoddy products sold illegally

You missed the point.

The Favre jerseys weren't shoddy knockoffs. They were produced in the SAME FACTORY as all the other Reebok jerseys were made, with the same quality. They weren't even "seconds" - they were simply extras produced from a pilot run.


Let's see if you can comprehend the simple issue here:

Aside from marketing (which Reebok does a lot less these days, but does consume some money), the fact that the same factory that produces the $250 jersey Reebok sells is selling that exact same quality jersey to a vendor in Shanghai for something less than $16 (probably half that). That means that over $200 of what YOU pay for your "authentic" Jersey at your local shopping mall's memorabilia shop is going towards licensing, marketing, and pure profits. What share goes to each, I don't know... but I have to think the lions' share is profit. I also can't imagine that the licensing is so onerous that it would inflate the price that badly - much more affordable licensed stuff is available.

What that particular vendor is doing is selling "gray market" goods, and it's probably quite legal in China, at any rate. While some vendors DO sell shoddy knockoffs, she wasn't... she was selling the real deal. The licensing fees and marketing costs might have been short-circuited, but do you honestly believe they would amount to over $200 per jersey?

deltabourne: LesserEvil: Aside from marketing (which Reebok does a lot less these days, but does consume some money), the fact that the same factory that produces the $250 jersey Reebok sells is selling that exact same quality jersey to a vendor in Shanghai for something less than $16 (probably half that). That means that over $200 of what YOU pay for your "authentic" Jersey at your local shopping mall's memorabilia shop is going towards licensing, marketing, and pure profits. What share goes to each, I don't know... but I have to think the lions' share is profit. I also can't imagine that the licensing is so onerous that it would inflate the price that badly - much more affordable licensed stuff is available.

Actually, licensing is extremely expensive and I imagine makes up a large percentage of the price. Secondly, it's a given that since the Chinese income is a fraction of the American one, their prices will be too. Are you outraged that we're being scammed because bananas are $0.69/lb here and $0.08/lb in Africa (and that's retail price from a large store, I just bought some)? Thirdly, excess items and mistakes never ever command full price. In fact, they're often thrown out or donated. Know how many 2004 Yankees ALDS champs shirts I've seen around here (again, Africa)? Are you outraged that they got those shirts for free? I mean, they sold for $20. That must be pure profit!!


Wrong, just plain wrong. Let's try this again....

Licensing: Doing a little checking, it's worth about $250 million over 10 years, or about $25 million per year, to the NFL (as an example), but the revenue (total sales) was about $3.5 BILLION. In other words, licensing accounts for something less than 1% of the total sales figures. Huh, interesting.

Cost: Your example is just plain nonsense. Bananas have to be shipped from exotic locales, prepared, and refrigerated... but the cost to make and ship a box of jersey's isn't any different than making and shipping a box of non-licensed "generic" jerseys to Wal*Mart - yet they sell them for $20 or less each. Taking away the whole idea of licensing from the mix, everything else is equal. I guess Wal*Mart only sells to Chinese people here in the states to offer those prices?

The last bit: I have no idea what that has to do with anything.

The point is this: Reebok contracts with Chinese factory to produce jerseys. (I've been involved in this sort of thing to make electronics components for the automotive industry, so I do have a clue here). Factory manager is contracted to make 50,000 jerseys of a particular team and player, but he actually makes 100,000 - some percentage are "seconds" - not quite good enough to pass inspection... those go out at cost to vendors; some other percentage are "gray market" goods, perfectly fine, quality wise, and sold to vendors for something close to what Reebok is paying the factory for (That's what happened with the Favre jersey). Nothing is sold at a lost, and nothing is "given away". Shipping the jerseys is cheap enough - they don't even mail them (maybe the pilot run of Favre/Viking jerseys) - they ship the 50,000 jerseys on a slow boat to the states for pennies per jersey. They are packages and ready to go when they hit the docks at Port of Los Angeles. Reebok takes possession and ships them to retailers from there. Again, distribution within the US is not overly expensive. Wal*Mart and other major retailers do it all the time without breaking the bank or marking up their clothing by more than $200 over cost.

In the case of championship shirts gone wrong, that's something entirely different.... those are made on spec by local companies, and they are gambling on a big payday by producing both versions.... the loss for the "wrong" shirts is absorbed by the "right" shirts' sales. If you have trouble understanding the economics of this, please stick to your day job at the local Shell station.