By LARRY NEUMEISTER and JOCELYN NOVECK
https://apnews.com/article/thom-browne-adidas-stripes-lawsuit-fada779442cc217037d1e838d04f6359
NEW YORK (AP) — Fashion designer Thom Browne emerged from a New York courthouse on Thursday victorious over sportswear giant Adidas in a grand battle over signature stripes.
Browne told The Associated Press that he hopes preserving his striped designs on luxury sportswear and accessories will inspire others whose work is questioned by larger clothing manufacturers.
“It was important to fight and tell my story,” Browne told The Associated Press after a Manhattan federal court jury sided with him. Adidas had claimed that the striped designs used by Thom Browne Inc. were too similar to their own three stripes.
“And I think it’s more important and bigger than me, because I think I’ve fought for every designer who creates something and later gets replaced by a bigger company,” he said.
Adidas hinted in a statement that their fight could go on.
“We are disappointed with the ruling and will continue to vigilantly enforce our intellectual property, including filing appropriate legal remedies,” Rich Efrus, a spokesman for Adidas, wrote in an email.
A highly creative designer known for his theatrical runway shows, Browne began selling clothing in a boutique in Manhattan’s West Village in 2001. Since then he has enjoyed great success, particularly following a deal with luxury brand Zegna in 2018. His company now has a presence in over 300 locations worldwide including Tokyo, London, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Milan.
Adidas sued Browne in June 2021, saying its “four-bar signature” — along with other parallel stripe products on athletic apparel, including t-shirts, sweatpants and hoodies — violated its own well-known trademark.
The two-week trial ended when the eight-person jury returned its verdict in less than two hours. Browne’s supporters in the courtroom erupted when US District Judge Jed Rakoff berated them for violating courtroom etiquette. Supporters later poured into the hallway, some celebrating with hugs and tears.
The dispute dates back 15 years. In 2007, Adidas complained that Browne was using a three-stripe design that was too similar to theirs on a jacket. Browne agreed to stop using it and switched to a four-stripe design. For years, Adidas didn’t back down – but as Browne rose to prominence following the 2018 sell-off, he began to expand further into activewear and the sportswear giant took notice.
Adidas argued in its lawsuit that Browne’s stripes could confuse customers. Browne, in turn, has argued that the two companies are not direct competitors and do not serve the same market. For example, a pair of women’s compression tights on Browne’s website is $725. A pair of Adidas leggings is well under $100 on this company’s website.
Jeff Trexler, a faculty member at Fordham Law School’s Fashion Law Institute, said the branding landscape has become more nuanced in a changing market where companies regularly expand into new categories — both in content and price — and collaborate with others on specialty lines. More and more, he said, businesses are not staying in the lanes they started out in, be it fashion or lemonade.
“It’s like ‘Ghostbusters,’ where you know if you cross the creeks, everything is going to explode,” Trexler said.
As long as Browne put the stripes “on a man’s sport coat and his slim luxuries, maybe an occasional pair of sweatpants,” there was no crossing of the creeks, Trexler said. But as he expanded more into activewear, currents crossed.
Browne himself testified at the trial, noting the importance of sport in his life and how it impacted his career.
The former competitive swimmer said outside the courthouse that he grew up playing tennis and others in his extended family enjoyed basketball, baseball and soccer.
“So it’s very authentic to me as a person,” he said. “It’s something that inspires me every day in terms of what I do.”
He said he counts many professional athletes among his friends and clients and considers them “huge inspirations.”
Trexler noted that Browne’s attorneys successfully convinced the jury that Browne was an outsider.
“In short, Thom Browne’s attorney got the jury to see this case as The People vs. The Corporation and populism won,” he said after the verdict.
Browne said he hopes the courtroom argument will be his last.
“I just want to design collections and never stand in a courtroom again,” he said.