Feel-good fable of the fake underwear

After a fruitless afternoon
searching for suitably
modest artwork
involving the terms 'cat'
and 'underwear' the IPKat
pauses for reflection ....

Late last year, this Kat brought you an 'IP-feel-good-story' of counterfeit clothes being given to the charity His Church, where they were de-branded and distributed to those in need. See KatPost here. Today she is pleased to learn from the BBC what the Milton Keynes Council’s Trading Standards team has done with more than 500 items of counterfeit clothing (part of the booty from previous raids which seized more than 2,500 counterfeit items from a market stall in the area) --  including fake Calvin Klein underwear and Foo Fighter and Prodigy T-shirts.  The illicit garb is being donated to the city's Winter Night Shelter Project.  The project uses seven church buildings across the city and relies upon volunteers to provide shelter, hot food and warm clothing for up to 15 people per night who would otherwise be sleeping on the streets.

This Kat understands that these counterfeit items would not be de-branded before they were distributed to the charity. Karen Ford, Head of Trading Standards, is reported by the BBC to have said: '[It] is unusual because usually they want to protect their brand as far as they possibly can, but it was such a worthwhile cause that they were quite happy'. Given that the goods were still branded, so as to avoid any further criminal activity Ms Ford also added that 'what we have asked through the charity is that the items are handed over individually and not left around in bulk so that they can be sold on street corners or anything like that'.

Milton Keynes: famously associated
with fake cows -- and real knickers

The IPKat, who thinks that it is fantastic that brand owners have been able to assist with the valuable work being carried out by charity, is no great admirer of Calvin Klein but is impressed that he was willing to give his consent to this exercise.

Merpel feels that the underwear in question does not need to be de-branded, so long as its recipients are made to wear it before they leave the shelter: her research has led her to believe that, however much consumers are willing to pay for designer goods that are worn next to the skin, pre-worn underwear tends to lose much of its market value ...

A KatPat goes to Dr Zoe Birtle of D Young & Co for suggesting the story to this Kat.