Fan blows whistle on shoddy strip

Mils Muliana will be hoping his stitching lasts more than two outings. Jeff Brass / Getty Images

When Hamilton student Nick Beck paid $150 for a Super 14 jersey sporting the colours of his beloved Waikato Chiefs, he did not expect the stitching to fall apart after a couple of wears.

Nor did he expect to find, on closer inspection, that beneath the shiny new Super 14 badge was stitched a Super 12 moniker from an earlier era.

Mr Bent, who describes himself as a "crazed" Chiefs fan, says he only ever wore the jersey to two live fixtures.

"After the second of these, I noticed that the Super 14 patch on the arm had come unstitched on one side.

"I was mildly irritated because of the fact that this jersey had only been worn twice, but on closer inspection mild irritation succumbed to extreme rage, for under this cheaply stitched on Super 14 patch was the old Super 12 logo."

Upon making this alarming discovery, Mr Bent remembered having seen Super 12 jerseys for $90 at the Tauranga Rebel Sport outlet where he made his purchase.

The Super 12 competition expanded to 14 teams this season, and Mr Bent now believes someone has merely slapped a Super 14 patch on a Super 12 shirt, and whacked $60 on to the price.

Mr Bent made his concerns known in a letter to the Herald, but was not willing to discuss the matter further when approached for an interview.

He said he had agreed to an exclusivity deal with a television station, which provided a rental car for him to travel to Auckland, and accommodation in a city hotel on Tuesday in return for his story.

"I have made a commitment to going up to Auckland for TV."

Adidas managing director Greig Bramwell said that a number of Super 12 jerseys were modified when the competition expanded, and that included sewing new labels over old.

The new Super 14 jerseys were all produced to sponsors' approval, and were charged out to retailers at the same cost price as last year's Super 12 jerseys.

Retailers were then free to add whatever retail mark-up they saw fit, Mr Bramwell said.

He hoped Mr Bent would be able to return his jersey and get an exchange.

Rod Duke, group managing director of Briscoes Group, which owns Rebel Sport, was shocked to hear of Mr Bent's predicament, and offered to replace the jersey, no questions asked.

But he said the $90 Super 12 jerseys spotted by Mr Bent were likely old stock, and thus on special.

He said there was no way anyone had pulled a fast one with Mr Bent's jersey: "We don't stitch, sew, repair or alter anything. That's what I can tell you for sure."