Adidas Sues Fashion Label Over Four-Stripe Design

Adidas is suing Australian fast-fashion brand White Fox, alleging that its four-stripe clothing designs infringe on Adidas's long-standing trademark of three stripes. The sports apparel giant filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court, asserting that White Fox's garments are "substantially identical with or otherwise deceptively similar" to Adidas's signature design.

Adidas claims that White Fox has been selling and promoting the striped clothing since at least March, constituting an infringement of their trademark. The company argues that the four-stripe design is intended to "trade off our reputation" and create an association in consumers' minds between the two brands. Lawyers for Adidas presented evidence in court, including a picture of a White Fox-endorsed influencer wearing the brand's four-stripe shorts with Adidas shoes, which they contend would confuse consumers.

The three-stripe design has been a registered trademark in Australia since 1957, and Adidas maintains it holds a "substantial and valuable reputation" associated with it. The lawsuit seeks to prevent White Fox from producing clothing with four stripes and to compel the company to surrender profits earned from the sale of these items.

White Fox's legal team has denied any trademark breach, proposing that the four stripes are merely decorative elements rather than a trademark. They also pointed to similar four-stripe designs from other fashion labels, including Princess Polly, Glassons, and Shein, as evidence that the design is not exclusive to Adidas. This litigation marks the first high-profile legal action of its kind against White Fox Boutique, which was founded in Sydney in 2013.

In a related legal matter, Adidas successfully sued Pacific Brands in Australia in 2013 for selling shoes with a four-stripe design. In the current proceedings, White Fox's barrister Ed Heerey KC stated the company's defense would focus on the decorative nature of the stripes. The lawsuit comes as White Fox has gained increasing popularity among young women and girls.