Adidas sues Australian label White Fox over four stripes design

Adidas sues Australian label White Fox over four stripes design

Adidas is suing Australian label White Fox for selling and advertising clothes with a four-striped design, arguing it is “deceptively similar” to the German brand’s distinct logo.

The sportswear giant said it had repeatedly asked White Fox to stop selling and promoting the clothes since March, but the Sydney-based company refused.

The fast-fashion online retailer is popular with teenagers and young adults in Australia, the UK and the US, and has relied on billboards, bus advertising and influencers – often university-aged – to grow its profile.

In the Federal Court on Friday, lawyers for White Fox denied any breach of trademark.

While White Fox has not yet lodged a formal defence, its lawyers told Justice Ian Jackman that the firm intends to argue that other prominent Australian brands such as Cotton On, Sportscraft and Glassons sell clothes with “similar decorative stripes”.

Lawyers for Adidas told the court that White Fox, in advertising and selling its clothes with four stripes, had the “intention to trade off our reputation”.

A three to four-day trial is expected to take place early next year, the court heard.

In its written statement of claim, Adidas says its three-striped design has a “substantial and valuable reputation” in Australia, where it has been trademarked since 1957.