Overview
- Adidas filed a Federal Court action that was first mentioned on Friday, October 9, 2026, accusing Sydney-born White Fox of selling and promoting clothing with four parallel stripes that it says are deceptively similar to its registered three-stripe mark.
- The sportswear firm alleges White Fox repeatedly refused requests to stop the designs and points to promotional images showing influencers wearing White Fox items with genuine Adidas shoes that were later edited after proceedings began.
- White Fox denies trademark breach and will argue in court that its four stripes are decorative and commonplace on apparel, highlighting similar products sold by other fast-fashion retailers.
- Adidas seeks injunctions to stop sales of the four-striped clothing, orders for disgorgement of profits and damages, and the matter is listed for a hearing in early 2027 before the Federal Court.
- The dispute tests how Australian courts treat stripe motifs on clothing given Adidas’s three-stripe registration since 1957, a 2013 Australian win over four stripes on shoes, and recent international losses to Thom Browne, with wider implications for branding, influencer marketing and fast-fashion sellers.