Counterfeit football shirts are increasingly appearing under French Christmas trees, lured by low prices despite environmental concerns. According to L’Équipe, families are turning to lookalike kits that delight children while bypassing official channels.
One father bought his son a white France shirt with Kylian Mbappé’s 10 from KKGol for €20 delivered, choosing a longer wait over paying €80 for brief use. A roofer, he said growth spurts and shifting tastes made full-price kits unrealistic.
A 2024 survey found 15% of French people have bought counterfeit sports goods, and one in five 15-18 year-olds mainly wear fakes. Mbappé and France tops are especially popular with children, and young adults are buying too.
Experts say copies often pass with non-experts, with lighter fabric and simpler stitching, though collectors spot flaws quickly. Campaigners argue materials and manufacturing mirror official kits, so impact is similar, but €20 prices encourage disposal.
Budget-pressed buyers use Chinese platforms and sometimes deal directly with resellers. One smuggler said he ships 300 to 400 shirts to France each day in December, over 100 parcels for a month, with volumes rising since Covid amid inflation and overconsumption.
For €20, parents can gift a shirt resembling one four times dearer. An environmental sociologist and Green MEP says consumers are not to blame, urging local manufacturing and slimmer margins to recover sales, with EUIPO estimating France’s annual loss at about €150m. Since the 1980s, purchases of new clothing have doubled to 3.5 billion a year.
