For more than 15 years, the New England Patriots ProShop Memorabilia business has helped fans and collectors own authenticated pieces of sports history. But as the collectibles industry evolved, so did the expectations around trust, security, and customer experience.
Traditional authentication technologies like RFID created new capabilities for the industry, but they also introduced limitations. Tags can be removed, manipulated, replaced, or compromised. As counterfeit sophistication continues to grow, collectors increasingly want stronger proof that the item they are purchasing is authentic and protected long term.
That challenge led the Patriots ProShop team to partner with DUST Identity.
Using DUST’s unclonable physical identity technology, each authenticated item receives a unique and tamper resistant identity tied directly to its certificate of authenticity and digital record. The result is a verification experience designed to be simple for customers while significantly harder to counterfeit or manipulate.
According to Jim Scollins, Sr. Director of Retail Operations at New England Patriots:
"DUST Identity elevated the way we authenticate and protect our memorabilia. The technology is secure, impossible to manipulate, and has dramatically improved trust and customer experience for our fans and collectors.
The impact extended beyond authentication alone. By combining secure item identity with an online verification database and upgraded packaging experience, the organization created a more premium and trusted collector journey from purchase through long term ownership."
For collectors, trust matters as much as the item itself. Authentication is no longer just about proving an item is real. It is about protecting value, creating confidence, and strengthening the connection between fans and the moments they care about most.
As the collectibles market continues to grow, organizations are increasingly looking for authentication technologies that cannot simply be copied, removed, or replicated. DUST Identity’s platform was built for exactly that challenge: bringing unclonable trust into the physical world.
