Customs Seizes Fake Nike Hats From Fair

U.S. customs agents and the Great Falls Police Department seized 700 phony Nike hats from a state fair vendor Wednesday afternoon.

Customs Agent Steve Snyder declined to identify the vendor, but said he had not been taken into custody and was still operating at the fair, selling legitimate merchandise.

U.S. Customs is responsible for enforcing federal laws related to counterfeit merchandise or products with fake logos. Snyder said agents usually make a routine check wherever a lot of vendors are present, as at the fair.

The baseball hats at this year’s fair had both the Nike “swoosh” symbols and the word Nike on them. They were made in Honduras, he said.

“I knew it was counterfeit just by looking at the product,” Snyder said. “If you’ve seen a legitimate Nike product before, then normally you know just by looking.”

Customs agents check with the company that makes the product to be sure whether items are fake, he said.

Snyder said Customs had not put a value on the hats they seized, but the vendor was selling them for about $8 each. One way to tell if a product is counterfeit is a lower retail price than normal, he said.

Great Falls police Lt. Jim Sharpe said the last three fairs have had a limited amount of counterfeit vending, but that the customs agency usually deals with the offenders.

“We just assisted with the carrying and standing,” he said of Wednesday’s incident.

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