Comme des Garçons Play preserves exceptional quality and Japanese craftsmanship and avant-garde design. For our fans across the U.S. buying a genuine Comme des Garçons piece is the reward of years of experimentation with high-quality fabrics. Because streetwear is one of the most produced sectors in the counterfeit market, knowing how to verify luxury goods is imperative. Buying the official CDG Play Polo Shirt means you are buying a well-manufactured product with the highest standards, organic fabric, and a perfectly embroidered peeking heart that reproductions fail to produce.
Japanese Heavy Cotton Pique: Our real shirts are made with the highest quality Japanese pique that keeps its shape for years.
The Embroidered Heart: Filip Pagowski’s heart is represented with perfect circular embroidery with no uneven threads.
Identification Labels: Authentic shirts have tags with perfectly printed words and the correct factory stamp.
The Heart Emblem: Filip Pagowski Patch Details on CDG Play Polo Shirts
Our collaborative CDG Polo Shirts collection is famous for the heart patch with the peeking artist heart designed by Filip Pagowski. For authentic pieces, Pagowski’s patch is masterfully embroidered with dense, tightly packed embroidered threads. Structural faults fall short in this singular design on counterfeit pieces:
Direction and Density of the Threads: Tightly packed and expertly threaded patches are characteristic of authentic pieces, while counterfeit pieces feature thin and flat stitched threads.
Placement and Shape of the Eyes: Our signature asymmetrical embroidered eyes are of perfect proportion. The crisp eyes should also feature perfectly round dark pupils looking up and to the right.
Fabric Backing: The felt backing is expertly cut to the edge of the heart patch without any remaining frayed or loose threads.
Eye Alignment, Pupil Shape, and Felt Fabric Texture Deficiencies on CDG Polo Shirts
Another factor to consider when determining authenticity is the signature peeking heart patch designed by Filip Pagowski. Counterfeit pieces are distinct in quality due to the common use of poor quality stitching that falls short of our standards:
Eye Position and Alignment: The eyes featured in the heart patch are designed to be asymmetrically placed. Counterfeit pieces often align the eyes to be perfectly straight.
Crisp Pupil Shape: The black pupils within the heart patch are perfectly round and crisp while also stitching the eye thread, are never oval or imprecise.
Felt Texture Uniformity: Our back felt backing is the best quality available. It is very thick and very dense, and it is cut precisely along the edge of the heart stitch line, ensuring that there are no frayed textile strands or gaps in the fabric.
Neck Label and Wash Tag Typography: Finding Counterfeit CDG Play Polo Shirts.
When verifying your clothes, you have to look beyond the heart logo and check the crispness of our internal tracking metrics. Counterfeit print houses don’t achieve the neat alignment and specialized ink with the premium fabric backing that we use in every single item:
Neck Label Stitching: Our neck label fabric is sewn in with straight stitch lines of black thread that are cut and remain flush to the collar with no gaps and no unevenness.
Ink Typography/Layers: Real wash tags have dark and crisp lettering, while the fakes have poor quality prints with fuzzy weights, smudged letters, and numbered bleed prints on cheap satin.
Alphanumeric Print Codes: Real tags have these codes which feature alphanumeric style identifiers and codes of the actual fabric which are in the archived collections.
Examining Weights and Measures of Typography, Alphanumeric Style Identifiers, and Made in Japan Stickers of CDG Polo Shirts:
When verifying our goods, an examination of the lower side seams typography and formatting is required. Replicas always fail to achieve our highly specialized printing methods, showing obvious errors under scrutiny:
Font Weight: Authentic wash tag interiors have high quality printing with very legible and static font, while replicas have poor printing with uneven font weights and bleed prints.
Alphanumeric Style Codes: Each authentic piece is embedded with exclusive style codes and production codes which correspond to our CDG Play Polo design archives. Counterfeit tags commonly display codes which are made up entirely, or apply the same text to multiple garment lines in various formats.
Country of Origin Stamp: The “Made in Japan” label should always be perfectly accurate with crisp alignment, centered placement, and printed in a durable, professional-grade textile ink.
Material Construction: Japanese Cotton Pique and Placket Construction on CDG Polo Shirts
With the CDG Play Polo Shirts, mass-market alternatives quickly stretch out of shape and lose their integrity, while our garments are designed to retain their perfect balance between the structure and texture. This is made possible through our meticulous selection of high-quality raw materials:
100% Japanese Cotton Pique: The structure and density of our double pique weave offers a considerable balance between airflow and a pleasing weight.
Reinforced Placket Stitching: High tension while maintaining a perfect edge is ensured through high-density uniform stitch across the entire placket.
Genuine Mother-of-Pearl Buttons: The placket closure features premium cross-stitched natural hardware which is resistant to heat cracking.
Mother of Pearl Buttons, Placket Thread Count and Shoulder Seam Overclocking on Authentic CDG Polo Shirts
The elaborate hardware and assembly standards that cost budget replicas more than they are worth ensure that our knit tops retain their shape and last longer
Mother of Pearl Buttons: Each knit top closure is finished off with beautiful Mother of Pearl shell buttons, which are heat and fracture resistant, and have an iridescent luster.
High Placket Thread Count: High thread count placket ensures neatness, with no warps or sag.
Shoulder Seam Overclocking: Our tops retain their shape with a clean shoulder slope thanks to high-tension seams that have been overlocked.
Summary Checklist: Quick Guide for a Legit CDG Polo Shirts
When buying a premium knit shirt on an online or resale market, keep this guide with you to help you determine if the product is a genuine CDG Play Polo product.
The Embroidery Border: The signature red heart patch features a high density of overlapping thread and eyes that are asymmetric, but with round pupils.
The Hardware Material: Genuine buttons are Mother of Pearl, resistant to cracking and crossstitched, unlike cheap plastic that are translucent substitutes.
The Ink and Typography: Internal wash tags have an alphanumeric style code that perfectly align with design archives, and are printed as fine thin razor sharp fonts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Comme des Garçons Play polo shirts run small for US customers?
Definitely. They tend to be quite a bit smaller than the average American sportswear. Our collections are made using a Japanese standard sizing system. Our shirts are cut to have a shorter torso and a slimmer fit across the chest and shoulders. We encourage our US customers to purchase one size larger than their typical US standard size. For a more relaxed fit, we encourage our customers to purchase two sizes larger.
How can I identify a fake heart logo patch on a CDG polo?
A peeping heart patch designed by Filip Pagowski is usually found on real garments, and is very hard to replicate. A real heart patch has a lot of thread that overlap to give it a nice, smooth, and premium finish. The heart has eyes that are almost always asymmetrical. The eyes should be clean, sharp, and round with pupils that are looking in a northeast direction and should be slightly above center. Most counterfeits will have poor yet visible stitching, and the pupils will appear to be blob or misshapen.
How do you care for a CDG Polo?
The construction and the chest patch of the CDG Play Polo are made remarkably delicate and require careful handling. To limit wear, wash it with mild dye-free detergent, and avoid stronger detergents. It is recommended to wash it inside out and on the gentle cycle to further protect the embroidery, and avoid washing it with tough items like jeans. The polo is also susceptible to damage from the dryer, so it must be laid out to air dry.