Fashion feud: Adidas aims to tear stripes off White Fox

Global sportswear brand Adidas claims Australian label White Fox is trying to trade off its reputation by infringing its distinctive three-stripe trademark.

Adidas is suing the online fast-fashion retailer in the Federal Court for selling clothes with a four-stripe design, which it argues is deceptively similar to its classic design.

White Fox rejected repeated requests to stop selling and promoting clothing bearing the four parallel stripes, its rival claims.

During the first mention of the dispute on Friday, Adidas’s barrister Patrick Flynn SC argued the Sydney-based company had been using the stripes as a trademark for months.

He pointed to a picture of a White Fox-endorsed influencer wearing the company’s four-stripe shorts with genuine Adidas shoes as a promotion that would confuse consumers.

Adidas has held the trademark for a three-stripe design in Australia for more than 50 years and successfully sued another retailer for infringement over shoes bearing four stripes in 2013.

It meant the action filed against White Fox in September was “not unchartered territory”, Flynn noted.

White Fox’s barrister Ed Heerey KC said the Australian company would argue the four stripes emblazoned on the label’s clothing were simply decorative rather than a trademark.

He highlighted similar items bearing the four stripes from other brands such as fast-fashion labels Princess Polly, Glassons, and Shein.

“Their own slogan is that it’s the brand with three stripes. Emphasis on the three.”

The boutique will interrogate whether the use of four stripes was deceptively similar to Adidas’s trademark and whether any consumers would actually be misled.

He noted the 2013 judgement in favour of Adidas found it was common for branding to be placed on the side of shoes, but there was no such common practice for clothing.

Adidas is seeking orders that will prevent White Fox making clothing with four stripes and force it to hand over profits it made on the products.

Justice Ian Jackman - brother of one of Australia’s most famous exports Hugh Jackman - set the dispute down for a hearing in early 2027.