Adidas has filed a lawsuit against Australian retailer White Fox, alleging that its four-striped clothing designs are deceptively similar to Adidas's trademarked three-stripe logo.
Adidas is suing Australian online retailer White Fox for selling and advertising clothes with a four-striped design, arguing the pattern is "deceptively similar" to the German brand's distinct logo. The sportswear giant stated it had repeatedly asked White Fox to stop selling and promoting the clothes since March, but the Sydney-based company refused.
In the Federal Court of Australia, 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. The company claims that since at least March, White Fox has been selling and advertising clothes with four parallel stripes of equal width, which it alleges is an infringement of Adidas's trademark. Adidas describes White Fox's designs as "substantially identical with or otherwise deceptively similar" to its own.
Adidas also argues that White Fox's advertisements for its four-striped clothes and White Fox-branded socks feature people wearing "genuine" Adidas items. The documents claim this might lead Australians to think Adidas is associated with White Fox and has approved of the design. The company says White Fox is "drawing an association in the minds of consumers" of the two brands, or at least "sailing close to the wind".
Evidence provided by Adidas included side-by-side comparisons of its products with White Fox clothes, such as sweatpants and lounge shorts, as well as images of billboards on buses and at bus stops. In one example, Adidas claimed that an online listing from June 2025 showed a pair of White Fox-branded socks being modelled by someone wearing pink Adidas shoes. The documents alleged that a few days after the court proceedings were lodged last month, the Adidas logo on the shoes was digitally altered to remove one of the stripes, and a week later, all three stripes were scrubbed from the image.
Adidas, which reported €24.8 billion (£21bn; $28bn) in revenue in 2025, is seeking damages, saying White Fox must pay them the profit from the products plus interest and costs. The company has previously won a similar trademark dispute in Australia in 2013, when it successfully sued Pacific Brands over shoes with four stripes.
White Fox was launched in 2013 by Georgia and Daniel Contos and is privately owned by the Greek-Australian couple and Daniel's mother, Melina Maceri. The fast-fashion online retailer is popular with teenagers and young adults in Australia, the UK and the US, relying on billboards, bus advertising and influencers to grow its profile. It expanded into the UK market in 2024.
According to the Australian Financial Review, White Fox generated AU$542m (£286m; $377m) in revenue in the 12 months to June 2025, a four-fold jump from its 2022 figure of $121m.
The case highlights ongoing tensions in the fashion industry regarding trademark protection and design similarities. Adidas is seeking to enforce its intellectual property rights against a rapidly growing competitor, while White Fox challenges the uniqueness of the striped design by citing other major retailers. The outcome could influence how strictly parallel stripe patterns are protected in the Australian market.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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