The clothing industry ranges from fashion students to established fashion designers, start-up fashion retail brands to multinational retailers, from high-street to luxury brands, and fashion creatives to influencers.  

The name or logo associated with a business often becomes the brand’s identity and as such, it is vital that it is protected so that third party use, or registration can be prevented. However, think about the impact of trade marks on a fashion brand’s identity and you realise that often it is the hard to define and hard to protect elements of a brand which hold the most power – and this is particularly true for fashion brands. It is the red sole of a shoe, the tartan pattern on a scarf, the snaffle on a leather loafer, the red tab on the jean pocket – these aesthetic details that are essential in defining ‘the brand’ and that give the product its brand identity,

Trade marks are not limited to names and logos. Product shape (3D marks), packaging, patterns, colours, sounds, even smells can be protected as a trade mark – but it isn’t always easy to do so!  

Under the creative umbrella of IP sit different rights, with trade marks being one of the most powerful – but why? 

Harri Berridge has provided an overview of how trade marks work in the fashion industry, in contribution to a new guide to understanding IP in the fashion industry by CITMA. You can read the full article here.