No replacement for the real thing…

Prada, Gucci, Chanel, all premium, all aspirational and all brands that experience unscrupulous counterfeiting. Copying luxury brands is big business, feeding those who aspire to a particular lifestyle by enabling the purchase of cheaper, inferior product is rife the world over. In most cases it is obvious that the counterfeit product is a “rip-off” – we have all seen the rise of the counterfeit watch market, where weight of watch, internal mechanics and the quality of materials (in some cases even dangerous ones) bear no resemblance to the real deal. 

Unfortunately, the equine world does not escape this activity. In the rider clothing market for instance, there are numerous copies of brands that people aspire to wear  – frustrating for those brands of course, but the sector also sees counterfeiting in areas that cause far greater concern – areas that affect the safety and comfort of both our horses and ourselves. 

The CentreLine is at the forefront in the UK for bringing unique, quality, ground breaking, and soundly researched equestrian products to the UK market. One such product is the Freedom Girth from Scharf. It is a revolutionary girth. The first of its kind.  The team at Scharf have spent years of research and development in not only the structure of the girth but also the materials it uses, the quality of manufacture, the place of manufacture and the testing of each individual component to ensure that they meet the highest safety standards in the EU.

Like Prada, Gucci and others before, it has started. The first “look-a-like” girths are appearing on the market. With the growing success of the Scharf Freedom girth, delighted customers and even more importantly, comfortable happy horses, it was inevitable.  

At first glance, you would be forgiven for thinking, “GOSH  a cheaper version of the Scharf, let’s go for it!” however, please take a moment and really look at what is on offer. The knowledgeable and professional riders amongst us will see that once you get past the initial ‘look’, this is where the similarities stop – dead. 

If you look carefully at the design of the Scharf girth, it will become apparent that, on closer inspection, copies of this girth are completely dissimilar, generally expensive for what they are and most worrying of all, flawed in their design. Taking one element of the many revolutionary aspects of the Scharf Girth will not make a fully functioning biomechanical girth and will leave customers disappointed and their horse’s comfort and performance questionable. 

“Only the Freedom Girth by Scharf works like a Freedom Girth from Scharf.”

Here at the Centreline, our entire focus is on improving the comfort and performance of your horse and/or your own personal comfort, performance and safety. Every product we stock is of the highest quality, backed by years of research and data, tested to ensure compliance for safety standards and to do the job it is designed to do…..oh, and used by us EVERY DAY! 

We are passionate about and know our products intimately; we know every detail. If you would like to understand the products we offer better and need an informed, knowledgeable opinion about what we stock and why we stock it, then please call us any time. We love nothing more than sharing what we have discovered.