Adidas has launched legal action against White Fox, an Australian clothing label, over a four-striped pattern the German sportswear company contends bears a confusingly close resemblance to its own trademarked logo. According to the sportswear company, requests for the clothing line to be taken off sale and removed from promotion had been made to White Fox on multiple occasions from March onward, yet the Sydney-based brand did not act on them.
Targeting teenagers and young adults across Australia, the UK, and the US, the fast-fashion e-commerce brand has built its public profile through a mix of billboard placements, bus advertising, and partnerships with influencers drawn largely from university-age demographics.
Lawyers acting for Adidas and White Fox in Australia each declined to provide comment, with the matter's opening hearing scheduled for Friday.
Court filings show Adidas arguing that its three-stripe mark carries well-established commercial recognition across Australia, where trademark protection for the design has been in place since 1957. Adidas contends that White Fox has, from at least March onward, been offering and promoting garments bearing four parallel stripes of equal width — a design the sportswear brand argues falls within the scope of its protected trademark.
Adidas contends in its legal filing that White Fox's product designs bear a resemblance close enough to constitute deceptive similarity under trademark law. The filing goes on to contend that promotional materials for White Fox's four-striped clothing line and its branded socks depict individuals dressed in what are described as authentic Adidas products.
According to the court documents, such a resemblance in design could leave consumers with the mistaken impression that Adidas had endorsed or partnered with White Fox. Adidas contends that White Fox draws on the goodwill attached to its brand name, creating a perceived link between the two companies in consumers' minds, or at minimum venturing into territory that borders on infringement.
The sportswear group, whose 2025 revenues reached €24.8 billion (£21bn; $28bn), has added a financial claim to its legal action, calling on White Fox to hand over the profits generated from the disputed products along with interest and associated costs.
Among the materials Adidas put before the court were photographs of its own products placed alongside White Fox sweatpants and lounge shorts, together with images capturing billboard advertisements mounted on buses and at bus stops. Among the examples Adidas cited was an internet listing dated to June 2025, in which a person modelling White Fox-branded socks could be seen wearing pink Adidas footwear.
Court filings indicate that, within days of the legal proceedings being initiated last month, the Adidas logo appearing on the footwear had one of its stripes digitally removed from the image, with all three stripes subsequently eliminated from the photograph approximately a week after that.
A court ruling in 2013 found in Adidas's favour against Pacific Brands, determining that the Australian footwear retailer had infringed the sportswear company's trademark by marketing shoes bearing four stripes.
Founded in 2013 by Georgia and Daniel Contos, White Fox remains under the private ownership of that couple together with Daniel's mother, Melina Maceri. Its footprint in the US has been building steadily, and a move into the UK market took place during 2024. Revenue for the twelve months ending June 2025 reached AU$542m (£286m; $377m), roughly four times the AU$121m recorded three years earlier, according to figures published by a news outlet.
