Adidas has taken legal action against Australian fashion label White Fox Boutique, alleging that its sale of clothing featuring four stripes breaches the sportswear giant's three-stripe trademark. The claim, filed in the Federal Court of Australia, accuses White Fox of creating a false perception that Adidas produced, permitted or approved of the garments.
Alleged trademark infringement and evidence gathering
In court filings, Adidas claims White Fox ignored repeated requests to stop selling the four-stripe items. Representatives of the German-headquartered company then purchased a dozen of the allegedly infringing products and photographed White Fox's ubiquitous advertisements on Sydney's bus network, presenting them as evidence to the court.
White Fox, an online retailer launched in 2013, is known for its hoodies and sweatpants featuring a distinctive bubble-font logo, popular among teenagers and young adults across Australia and the US. Its advertisements dominate buses and billboards in Sydney, London and Los Angeles. Social media posts show the brand began selling four-stripe products in January 2026.
Legal claims and alleged deception
Adidas said the clothes were "substantially identical with or otherwise deceptively similar" to its own trademarked products. The claims were first filed in September and updated on Thursday. The company further accused White Fox of confusing customers by promoting socks and pants in pictures alongside three-striped Adidas shoes, with models wearing both. Adidas claimed White Fox later digitally altered the photos to remove a stripe.
Adidas said it asked White Fox to cease selling the products on 19 March, and an Adidas representative bought a pair of white-striped plum-coloured lounge shorts from the retailer the next day. Representatives continued collecting evidence, photographing advertisements on buses and bus stands from April to June, and White Fox allegedly supplied another 12 four-stripe items to them from May to July.
Damages sought and company background
Adidas has requested that White Fox stop selling the products, declare it broke the law, and pay its profits on the items plus damages, interest and costs. The €25bn (A$40bn) company has held trademarks over three-stripe clothing since 1952 and in Australia since 1973. It won a 2013 case against Pacific Brands over shoes bearing four parallel stripes, though it has lost some trademarks in the UK in a 2025 appeal against designer Thom Browne and has been denied broad three-stripe trademarks in the European Union.
White Fox was founded by Sydney couple Georgia and Daniel Contos, who privately own it along with Daniel's mother, Melina Maceri. The retailer's legal firm, Gilbert and Tobin, declined to comment on the matter before the court. Financial accounts show White Fox generated A$542m in Australia and the US in the year to June 2025, while spending $52m on marketing. The Australian corporate regulator fined it $187,800 in 2025 for filing accounts late.
In April, White Fox removed a social media ad after Australia's Ad Standards found it depicted women promoting heavy drinking and unsafe behaviour to the brand's "strong youth audience". The first case management hearing was scheduled for Friday, to be heard by Justice Ian Jackman.
