VAR CHECK
VISUALS. AUTHENTICATE. RESEARCH.
At Retro Kick Off, every shirt goes through our VAR Check process before it is listed for sale. The idea is simple: take nothing at face value and examine every shirt properly before it reaches the site.
Vintage football shirts are a collector’s market, and details matter. Different manufacturers, production runs, factories and years can all create subtle variations in shirts that may look almost identical at first glance. Because of this, each shirt is carefully examined using a combination of visual inspection, manufacturer verification and detailed research.
Rather than relying on a single indicator, we take a multi-layered approach. Every shirt is checked across several areas to make sure the design, construction and identifiers match what would be expected for that specific club, manufacturer and season.
This process is what we call VAR Check.
V – VISUALS
The first stage of the process is a thorough visual inspection of the shirt.
We carefully assess the overall construction and finish of the garment, paying close attention to the quality of materials, stitching, embroidery, manufacturer logos, club crests and sponsor printing. These elements often reveal a lot about how and where a shirt was produced.
We also examine design details specific to that season, including collar style, sleeve trim, panel construction, patterns within the fabric, and colour accuracy. Many classic shirts contain subtle design features that are difficult to replicate perfectly, and these details are an important part of the verification process.
Where applicable, we also inspect namesets, sleeve patches and additional printing to ensure they match the style used during the correct era.
The aim at this stage is to confirm that the shirt visually matches what would be expected from the original production run.
A – AUTHENTICATE
The second stage focuses on manufacturer identifiers and product verification.
Many shirts include product codes printed on internal labels. These codes can be cross-referenced with manufacturer catalogues and known retail releases to confirm that they correspond to the correct team, season and colourway.
We also examine internal wash labels, manufacturer tags, security labels and holograms where present. The formatting, placement and typography of these labels are often consistent across genuine production runs and provide useful indicators when verifying a shirt.
For shirts that are brand new with tags (BNWT), the swing tags and barcode labels are also checked to ensure they align with the manufacturer’s retail packaging from that era.
These identifiers help confirm that the shirt was produced by the correct manufacturer and matches the official retail version released during that period.
R – RESEARCH
The final step is research and comparison.
Each shirt is compared against existing examples and verified references. This may include collector databases, historical kit references, archived retail listings and other documented examples of the same shirt.
Where possible, shirts are also compared against physical examples to hand, allowing small details such as badge placement, label formatting, stitching patterns and colour tones to be checked side by side.
This research stage helps confirm that the shirt’s design, construction and manufacturing details are consistent with genuine shirts from that specific season.
THE VAR DECISION
By combining visual inspection, manufacturer verification and detailed research, the VAR Check process builds a complete picture of every shirt before it is listed.
It’s a careful process designed to give buyers confidence that each shirt has been properly examined and assessed before it makes its way into the Retro Kick Off collection.
Just like in football, VAR is there to make the right call.
