Adidas sues Australian label White Fox over four stripes design
The German sportswear brand wants the Sydney-based label to stop selling the clothes and pay damages.
Adidas is suing Australian label White Fox over a four-stripe design, saying the clothes it sells and advertises are "deceptively similar" to the German sportswear brand's well-known logo.
The company said it had repeatedly told White Fox to stop selling and promoting the items since March, but the Sydney-based retailer refused to do so.
White Fox, an online fast-fashion brand popular with teenagers and young adults in Australia, the UK and the US, has built its profile through billboards, bus advertising and influencers, often university-aged.
Law firms representing both Adidas and White Fox declined to comment on the case, with the first hearing set to begin on Friday.
In Federal Court filings, Adidas says its three-stripe design has a "substantial and valuable reputation" in Australia, where it has been trademarked since 1957.
Adidas says that since at least March, White Fox has been selling and advertising clothing featuring four parallel stripes of equal width, which it says infringes its trademark.
The company claims White Fox's designs are "substantially identical with or otherwise deceptively similar" to Adidas.
It also says White Fox's ads for its four-striped clothing and White Fox-branded socks show people wearing "genuine" Adidas products.
According to the documents, that could cause Australians to believe Adidas is linked to White Fox and has approved the design.
Adidas says White Fox is "taking advantage" of its reputation, "drawing an association in the minds of consumers" between the two brands, or at least "sailing close to the wind".
The company, which reported €24.8 billion (£21bn; $28bn) in revenue in 2025, is also seeking damages and says White Fox should pay over the profits from the products, plus interest and costs.
Adidas submitted evidence including side-by-side comparisons of its products and White Fox clothing, such as sweatpants and lounge shorts, along with images of bus billboards and bus stop advertising.
In one example, Adidas said an online listing from June 2025 showed White Fox-branded socks being modelled by someone wearing pink Adidas shoes.
The documents allege that a few days after the court action was filed last month, the Adidas logo on the shoes was digitally changed to remove one of the stripes, and a week later all three stripes had been removed from the image.
Adidas previously won a case in Australia in 2013 against Pacific Brands, which was selling shoes with four stripes.
White Fox was founded in 2013 by Georgia and Daniel Contos and is privately owned by the Greek-Australian couple and Daniel's mother, Melina Maceri. The brand has been expanding in the US and entered 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, up four times from $121m in 2022.