How to tell if your Lacoste is Fake

Hello, this is a guide about Lacoste, on ebay mostly 90% of Lacoste shirts are fake. I think that is crazy, and most of the fake ones are being sold for the 30 dollar range, which is a lot because that is how much most of the real ones are. This guide will tell you what is a fake and what is not... It will help you buying many shirts other then lacoste shirts on Macys.

DISTRIBUTION
I'm sick and tired of ebayers saying because I buy in bulk I can sell cheap.  This would be true if Lacoste sold wholesale to individuals, but they don't.  Lacoste only sells to its authorized dealers etc, its own stores and stores like Nordstroms, Bloomingdales, Urban Outfitters... etc.  Then a common response to me has been well they are factory seconds.  Lacoste DOES NOT sell factory seconds they destroy them.  Lacoste strives for the highest quality and would not want their name ruined by a factory second this is why they stop producing with Izod for years now. Now, to give you an idea of what the cheapest a Lacoste shirt can get, Lacoste at their factory outlet which is basically last seasons Lacoste, are discounted around 40% that is what I have been told by Lacoste employees.


THE BUTTONS

The Buttons are one of the signature aspects of the Lacoste shirt.  All Genuine Lacoste shirts use Mother of Pearl Buttons.  Since Mother of Pearl (MOP) is produced by good old mother nature, no two buttons are alike.  Also on the darker Lacoste shirts the buttons will be a darker MOP.  Also all Genuine Lacoste shirts will only have two holes in their buttons sewn vertically.  Now there is some debate out there if Lacoste shirts can have three buttons and the answer is yes, but the solid color shirts will only have two.

Now a fake Lacoste shirt will have the crocodile on the button its self and will also have Lacoste written on the button.  Theses buttons will be made of plastic and will have two holes in them sewn horizontally.  I have heard that some Lacoste shirts do have the crocodile on the button, but I think that they still have two hole in them.  While this may sound disgusting one sure fire way to tell if the button is MOP is to bite it.  You will be able to tell if it is MOP by doing that.  Just because it has MOP buttons does not make it real I have seen fakes with MOP buttons

PRODUCTION LOCATIONS

While I have heard many things about how Lacoste has factories all over the world, I personally have shirts from Peru, France and Morocco. Any other country and ether it is a fake or a lower quality production or I do not know about yet.  In the United States multiple brands are sold the majority coming form France or Peru.  The majority of the polo's (I do not know about the other products) come from Peru.  Any Shirt that is made in any Asian country, Argentina and India should be avoided.  Now some fakes have tags that say made in Peru design in France. So this is no longer a way to tell it is genuine, but this is how it should appear.  Also i have been told that they were once written in Spanish, but are no longer written in Spanish along with the English so this may be another way to spot a fake.

Sizing

Now this is a very simple but important section on the tag of the Lacoste shirt the sizing must be done in numbers.  I thought that all Lacoste shirts were made in European sizing I came across some at Bloomingdales that used US sizing, while these were the sport Lacoste, (three buttons) any solid color polo will be done in European sizing.

A Fake Lacoste will have the sizing in M L XL and will only have one tag on it.