FAKE designer jeans with a street value estimated at £60,000 have been seized by trading standards officers.

Officers from Burnley swooped on a business unit in Victoria Street, Accrington, and found 2,000 pairs of counterfeit Calvin Klein, Levi, Armani and Tommy Hilfiger jeans.

Chief trading standards officer Jim Potts said today that the production of counterfeit denim-wear was a major problem in Lancashire and they had seized several million pounds worth of stock over the past few years.

This operation was carried out after officers received several anonymous telephone calls informing them about possible counterfeit trading.

After making investigations, they spent yesterday morning observing the unit.

At 4pm six trading standards officers with search warrants were allowed into the premises by the owner of the unit, but the manufacturers renting the building were not on site.

They found jeans in various stages of production, enough labels and studs bearing the names of the companies to make up many more pairs, and riveting and buttoning equipment.

Officers arranged for a van to take the goods to a secure storage facility nearby. They are making inquiries into the manufacturers of the stock, who could face a possible ten years in prison if convicted of offences under the Trademarks and Trade Descriptions Act.

A trading standards officer said: "We receive information all the time and this is just one of a number of premises we have been observing.

"There are manufacturers who are approved to produce these goods and we know there is nobody approved in this area.

"The true value of the jeans is about £80 or £90 a pair but these would probably have been sold for about £30 each."

Samples of the jeans will now be checked by the real companies.

Mr Potts added: "There is a thriving legitimate casual clothing industry in the county but there is a minority of producers who attempt to copy brand names.

"It is getting more difficult for them as the legitimate brand owners have their own networks of private investigators who are on the lookout for counterfeits.

"There is no evidence to suggest that this business is legitimate."

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