grey

   1. (of merchandise)

   branded and authentic but sold at below the manufacturers' stated price

   Especially of luxury goods and clothing where the manufacturer seeks to maintain higher prices in an affluent country than can be charged elsewhere. Thus the product is known as grey goods, the trade known as the grey market, and those involved are called grey marketeers:

    Tesco was reported to have sold grey goods worth £30 million last year. (Daily Telegraph, 17 July 1998)

    It... offered cheap Calvin Klein clothing to its ABC Cardholders after obtaining stock on the grey market. (Sunday Telegraph, 22 February 1998 — cheap in this context means less costly than normal)

    By buying goods without the manufacturer's consent, grey marketeers... operate in an area so named because it is neither illegal nor accepted business practice. (Daily Telegraph, 17 July 1998)

   2. (of people) lacking personality or initiative

   The adjective is used about subservient politicians and functionaries, who may also be described as grey suits, from their attire:

    The grey men in the home team were each speaking in turn about peace and unity. (Simpson, 1998, writing about politicians in Belgrade)

    He had been appointed four years earlier to the post of premier by the late President Cherkassov as a skilled administrator, a grey suit with a background in the petroleum industry. (Forsyth, 1996)