This story was today sent to us by a friend of sons-of-anarchy.net.
Hey fellow SAMCRO fans, just wanted to throw this out there in the interest of keeping us all safe and keeping the integrity of the show intact.
The internet is FLOODED with unauthorized SOA merchandise. While we all love the show and want to show our loyalty and support by wearing the gear, the best way we can do this is by buying and wearing ONLY the OFFICIALLY LICENSED merchandise sold by FX. This is important for two reasons.
First, the show and it’s crew do not get any royalties from the purchase of unauthorized merchandise. While it is true that we can find SOA merchandise that LOOKS authentic at sometimes a cheaper cost by buying from unauthorized dealers, doing so robs FX and the crew of the credit they have earned for putting on an awesome show.
But more importantly, buying and wearing unofficial gear can be dangerous, depending on what it is you are wearing. I dated a 1%er for a long time. I WILL not divulge who he is or what club he rides with. (What happens in the club, STAYS in the club.) But having walked that life for as long as I did, I KNOW how seriously these guys take their lifestyle. I have seen a number of people wearing fake SOA gear, and every time I see it I wonder how long it will be before they get their ass in trouble. Even though I am no longer with my ex, I still have some friends from the MC world. Recently, I heard through the grapevine of an incident that hit close to home. Apparently, a 1%er confronted a woman (who happens to be an aquaintence of mine) who was wearing a fake SOA shirt and took it from her. Knowing how distorted the grapevine can be, I reached out to my old contacts to get the story straight. This is what I have pieced together from both sides-the civilian or citizen side and the MC side.
The girl, we will call her Fran, had purchased a SOA shirt on the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore. It had the “Sons of Anarchy” top rocker, the “SOA Reaper” in the middle, and a “New Jersey” bottom rocker. The problem was, it also had an “MC” on it.
Fran was out shopping with her sister and two friends. All loyal fans of the show. One of her friends is a pretty good friend of mine, who had told her NOT to buy the shirt because it had an MC on it. She didn’t listen and bought it anyway. They stopped in a bar for lunch after shopping. The bar they picked happens to be a favorite bar of the dominant 1% club in their area. An SA of one of the local charters saw her wearing an SOA shirt. BEFORE he confronted her, he took a good look at her shirt, and noticed it had a bottom rocker with the name of the state they were from and an “MC” on it. Seeing this, he approached her and demanded the shirt. She refused, saying she paid good money for it. He stated, “I don’t care if you spent a million bucks on it, it has an MC on it and you ain’t in no MC. Hand it over.” She tried to refuse again and he very simply stated that she did not have a choice, he was taking her shirt. She handed it over and that was the end of it.
Now this confrontation went pretty quiet, but there is a lot of buzz with the “real” MC’s about the SOA gear people are buying, and not the merchandise that FX sells. I have taken a GOOD look at the merch offered on the official FX site and NONE of it is done in a way that would offend the real life MC’s. I even went to one of my old contacts and sat down with him and his old lady and we went over it all in detail. I explained that I am a mod on this site, and wanted to know EXACTLY what is and is NOT acceptable in the club world’s eyes so that I can pass that info along. They loved the idea, they loved your site and forum too, so I am giving Tina and the mods KUDOS on their behalf! YAY!
So here is the deal. The main problem that the MC’s are having with the fake SOA merch is that a lot of it bears too close a resemblance to the real gear patch holding members of MC’s wear. Having the top AND bottom rockers, having an MC, or having a location present are all big no no’s with them. Here is why:
MC’s that sport a 3 piece patch have their patch set up as follows:
TOP ROCKER: bears the name of the club.CENTER PATCH: bears the club’s logo.BOTTOM ROCKER: bears either a location (TERRITORY) or simply an MC which designates them as either a 1% motorcycle club or a support/puppet club that is governed by the dominant 1% club.
Because her shirt had ALL these components, it was a problem. The main thing was the New Jersey bottom rocker, but more importantly, it was the MC piece that was an issue.
So how do you know if your gear is real or fake? After CLOSE and CAREFUL examination of EVERY PIECE of gear available at the official SOA store run by FX networks (http://foxshop.seenon.com/?pagemax=all&v=fx_shows_sons-of-anarchy) I can tell you, straight from the mouth of a 1%er, what the deal is.
First of all, NONE of the gear offered by FX has a top or bottom rocker, or an MC on it, ANYWHERE. You will see the name of the show “Sons of Anarchy” in the show’s font UNDERNEATH the Reaper logo. It will not be in a “ribbon” at the top, and does not resemble a rocker (arch shape) at all. In fact, NONE of the gear features ANYTHING that looks like a rocker piece.
Second, NONE of the gear offered on the official site has MC on it ANYWHERE. Yes, there are some items and apparel that have the acronym SAMCRO on them, but that is ok, because the letters MC are within the SAMCRO phrase, which is trademarked by the show. Now if you see gear elsewhere that just has SAMC, you are looking at a fake and it may get you in hot water.
Now there is ONE exception to this. There is a Sons of Anarchy Reaper Sign, made out of your choice of metal or wood. This sign has the Reaper with top and bottom rockers. HOWEVER, the top rocker says California and the bottom rocker says Sons of Anarchy. The reason most MC’s won’t have an issue with this is because it is deliberately set up OPPOSITE what MC’s would traditionally display. It is also worth mentioning that the MC is NOT on this sign.
It is also worth mentioning that in the MC world, the initials MC stand for two things: Motorcycle Club (obviously) but it also stands for Man’s Club. True MC’s only allow MEN to be patch holding members. In a true MC, you will never find a woman as a patch holding member. There are Riding Clubs and Riding Societies that admit women as patch holders, but they are NOT Motorcycle Clubs. That’s just the way it is. It may sound archaic and chauvinistic, but that’s just the way it is. Every MC has a different reason for this, but it doesn’t matter what their reason is. Women are not patch holders. A woman’s role in an MC is to stand by her man, do what she can to support and protect the club and it’s brothers, and keep her mouth shut when it comes to things pertaining to the club.
It is for this reason, that the 1%er confronted “Fran.” Women do not have the opportunity to earn the “privilege” of wearing and MC. Then men that join an MC have to prospect and EARN their MC patch. Patchholders take this VERY seriously, and are offended by any Joe Shmoe on the street sporting an MC that they didn’t earn. To them it is the same as some random civilian putting on a military uniform and strutting around, having never served their country. It’s disrespectful to their way of life in their eyes.
Even work than the Tshirts that look like “soft colors” of SAMCRO (soft colors are Tshirts that display the same logos and rockers of an MC, and basically looks identical to their cut only printed on a Tshirt. Members of an MC guard their soft colors as fiercely as their cut) are the actual vests people are selling on the internet. There are a few internet retailers that are selling black leather vests complete with SOA patches that are pretty good replicas of what the guys wear on the show. I urge everyone DO NOT BUY THESE VESTS!!! It is a good way to get your ass in a lot of hot water!!!
Bottom line is, these people that are making this fake SOA gear have NO CLUE as to the potential harm they are placing the people that buy this stuff in, NOR DO THEY CARE!!! And unfortunately there are a lot of people out there that think SOA is just a fictional show. They don’t realize that the MC world is a real deal, and they don’t have any idea the lengths patch holders will go to in order to protect that way of life.
Let’s keep the integrity of the show’s merchandise and the integrity of its fan base intact, and ONLY by the OFFICIALLY LICENSED merchandise. Sure it may cost more than the fake crap you can buy elsewhere, but it’s a small price to pay considering the consequences of buying gear that can get you in trouble.
Ride safe, and keep on following our boys of SAMCRO!!!
