There are two types of people in this world. Those who spend way too much money on a jersey, and those people who are smart about purchasing jerseys. When it comes to most consumer products, the more expensive the version of an item is, the better quality it will have. That is not true when it comes to purchasing sports jerseys.

There are two ways to purchase sports jerseys: through officially licensed retailers, or through illegal means of purchasing unlicensed dealers.  The reason the official jerseys are expensive is because of licensing. Nike, Adidas, Under Armor, etc. have to pay large sums of money to gain the right to produce the jerseys. The major league sports leagues around the world are not going to let these big sports companies gain all the money from jersey sales. For example, Nike has to settle a deal with the NFL to be able to make and distribute jerseys to consumers. This is not a cheap deal, and it marks up the product tremendously.

But there are Chinese workers that have mastered the art of Jersey making. They are pushing the envelope, and they are currently making the official retailers produce higher quality products. The site that is infamous for this illegal production of jerseys is AliExpress.com.

An example of the Chinese producing high quality jerseys is quite prevalent in the Chinese’s Mitchell and Ness jerseys. Mitchell and Ness is a clothing company that makes hand-stitched throwback baseball Jerseys that cost $300.00 apiece. The Chinese replicate these bad boys and ship them to your American home for the low price of $17.99. You cannot tell a difference between the two. The replica even comes with the correct tags, including the 300 dollar MSRP tag.

I met up with a Cincinnati teenager, who is really into jerseys, to talk about the jersey phenomenon that is sweeping across the area all the way from the Indiana border to way out in Mason. I will not disclose his name due to the legality issues that come along with oversea jersey importing.

I asked him one simple question. What does it feel like to be the “Jersey guy”?

“It is a great feeling, some of the prettiest girls in Cincinnati coming to me when they need a jersey for a themed party, or whatnot,” he said.

Already assuming the answer, I asked “Where do you get your jerseys?”

“Simple, AliExpress.com,” “Jersey guy” stated.

I also asked him if he feels his jerseys are a waste of money, or does he get much use out of them?

He began to discuss how he wears jerseys almost every weekend. They are so cheap that it is not a problem funding his jersey collection. He gave me a peak of what he had in his room. “Jersey guy” had it all, from Jordan North Carolina jerseys to Wayne Gretzky throwbacks. I was impressed.

With the Jerseys being so cheap, you will see them wherever you are. At an Elder football game on a Friday night, a party somewhere in Cincy, or just at the grocery store, you will see jerseys everywhere.