Bill Cooper, 2010’s director of commercial rights, has been in charge of seizing 40 cases of fake 2010 Winter Olympics merchandise in the last two years. Forty cases equates to about 30,000 units overall.
The counterfeits range from pins, to maple syrup, to glassware, toys and apparel.
When you come stay at a home listed on Olympic Home Hotels, we urge you to be careful about purchasing memorabilia.
Bill Cooper says you can probably tell a fake by its craftsmanship. Three things you can quickly look for…
1. Poor quality in make.
2. No official hologrammed "hang-tag"
3. Missing sewn-in 2010 label.
Surprisingly, these fakes aren’t just found on the streets and in the back of unmarked white vans. A wide variety of retailers, from mom-and-pop stores to national ones have both been found with fakes.
The expected gross retail of official Olympic merchandise is estimated at $500 million.
Just like we recommend you to pay safely with Safe Funds on Olympic Home Hotels… we also urge you to pay close attention when buying Olympic merchandise.
And we’re not kidding about safety. Such knockoffs may be dangerous as they typically aren’t made with fire retardant material.