The goods from the fake designer clothes factory had an approximate street value of £150,000.
A Punjabi woman, along with an Asian man, received suspended prison sentences for running a fake designer clothing factory. They received one-year sentences, suspended for two years.
Officers from the Trading Standards found over 6,000 counterfeit labels and tags for clothing. They also recovered 894 completed garments.
The officers discovered that some of the clothes from the fake designer clothing factory imitated big brands. These included Nike, Super Dry and Lacoste.
Officers found some of the fake goods in packaged boxes, all ready to send off, while others remained on sewing machines.
Altogether, the goods from the fake designer clothes factory had an approximate street value of £150,000. Police shut down the factory after the discovery in 2015.
The trial heard how the duo planned to send the fake goods to UK markets.
46-year-old Tarsem Kaur, with the help of 60-year-old Altaf Sattar, ran the fake designer clothing factory in Spinney Hills, Leicester. Police arrested Tarsem Kaur on the spot as she was at the location.
Altaf Sattar became arrested at a later date as police raided his home. They found additional clothes which had connections to the factory.
However, on 25th January 2017, Tarsem pleaded guilty to 15 charges of counterfeiting. Altaf Sattar pleaded guilty to eight offences. The charges were under the Trade Marks Act.
Councillor Sue Waddington said about the case: “We would have liked to see a stronger sentence imposed in this case, to send the message out to other counterfeiters that this sort of crime will not be tolerated.”
“Our Trading Standards team will continue to work closely with the police to crackdown on such illegal operations and protect the interests of consumers and legitimate businesses across the city.”
Big brands also commented on the case. Mike Rylance, Adidas Senior Brand Protection Manager, said:
“We have a big fight on our hands to try and stem the fight against counterfeit products appearing in the UK market place and it totally undermines everything that Adidas stands for in producing quality products.”
It appears now that the Trading Standards will need to implement more action to tackle the production of fake goods.
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