I have heard of fake Coach. I have heard of fake Oilily. I have even heard of fake Abrocrombie. But never did I EVER think there would be fake GYMBOREE!! Alas, I found some ~ oh my goodness!! People are now FAKING children's brand name clothing!! I learned the hard way, and am now prepared to share with the Ebay world some tips on how to spot a fake.
#1. Check the quality : some fakes are easy to spot by simply looking at them ~ Gymboree used thick quality fabrics, and often fakes have crooked seams. This is true to most fakes, regardless of what brand they are trying to immulate. It can be easy to spot some fakes just with ebay sellers photos ~ cheap usually LOOKS cheap!! However, the fake I got my hands on LOOKED like a high quality shirt from first glance. Even the feel of it was thick and soft, as Gymboree is known for. It had pretty colored embroidery, also popular in real Gymboree clothes. But upon further inspection, I saw that the inside seams were thin and unraveling, and that the bottom of the shirt seemed rounded and off center ~ not straight across. The tag looked real enough at the consignment store though, so I purchased it to bring it home and do some investigation!
#2. Check the tag : the inner tag holds the key to authenticating Gymboree. Gymboree tags have varied throughout the years, and can even vary in the same year. Some are embroidered and some are printed. Its the information printed on the tags that give you the information you need! The RN #s on real Gymbo have been copied on the fakes ~ so seeing the RN 70530 doesn't mean much. My fake Gymbo had all the right numbers.(However, if the RN number is different than that, then its a really poor fake) The country that manufactures Gymboree also varies, so that doesn't help. You should see a copyright mark after the word Gymboree on newer lines. My fake did NOT have this vital mark. But the REAL thing you need to look for is the year in which the fabric is copyrighted. That number will tell you what you need to know!! The year will help you id, which is the next step. **if there are 9 orange dots on the tag 3x3 in a square, then this is a Gymboree Outlet piece ~ the outlets remake last years most popular lines**
#3. ID the line name: Gymboree releases a LOT of new clothes each year. They are easy to mix and match collections and each piece can be identified by a line name, such as Bonjour Provence or City Sidewalk. Once you have the year from the tag, you can visit free sites like (www) dot namethatline dot (biz) or (www) dot gymbohaven dot (com) to investigate further.***guide rules do not allow me to put links, so you must desipher my "code" and enter those web addresses in correctly LOL*** You can search thru the year on the tag, as well as the following year, to find the line ID. Some fabrics are copyrighted the previous year, so if your tag says 2003 you may actually have a piece of clothing that was sold in Gymboree stores in 2004. If you don't find your piece on one site, check the other site next ~ they don't always have the complete line listed, and this is especially true of older lines.
#4. If in doubt, ASK! : I photographed my fake Gymbo, and the nice ladies at Name That Line varified that it was fake. They have been into Gymbo a lot longer than I have, and I trusted that if it was an awesome rare find that they would tell me, or if it was a fake that they would know that as well!
As a seller of new and used Gymboree, I proudly display tag pictures in all of my listings. I also work hard at Line IDing every piece that I can to make sure that buyers can trust they are getting the real thing! As a buyer, I look for sellers who also have either tag pictures or line id's ~ if they do not provide them, I search for the line ID myself before purchasing. The best thing about this, is that piecing together full outfits is easier to do when you know what matches b/c they are in the same line!
If you believe you have purchased fake Gymboree online, please contact ebay customer support as well as the seller. Some sellers may not be aware that they are selling fakes, but it is against the rules none the less and they need to be alerted that ebay has been informed.
Authentic Gymboree Tags: one retail Gymboree and one Outlet Gymboree (notice the 3x3 orange dots before the name Gymboree) that are printed, and one embroidered
FAKE Gymboree tag: notice there is no copyright after the word Gymboree and no year
HERE is the fake that I got:
Thank you for taking the time to read my guide, please remember to vote!
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