Trademark classes for a clothing brand
It is time to protect your new clothing brand. You have decided on your “brand” and created your logo. The next step is to identify the trademark classes in which you should register your brand. This can be confusing, but let us help:
The clear frontrunner is:
Class 25 – Clothing, footwear and headgear.
Hopefully, only one class is required, as you will be able to get away with filing a single trademark application. In South Africa, each additional class will require you to file an additional trademark. Our charge to file your first trademark is R4,090 plus vat, and each additional trademark application is R2,950 plus vat.
Other related classes you should consider:
Class 9 – Sunglasses, protective clothing
Class 14 – Jewellery, watches
Class 18 – Bags, umbrellas, walking sticks, clothing for animals
Class 24 – Household linen
Class 26 – Lace and embroidery, buttons, hair decorations
Class 28 – Sport gloves, bags and protective gear
A trademark registration only gives you rights to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark in respect of goods that fall within your registered trademark class. As such, should you register your clothing brand in class 25, no-one else will be able to use a confusingly similar mark in respect of their “clothing, footwear and headgear”. However, your trademark registration will not prevent your competitor from using a similar mark in respect of sunglasses, jewellery and bags.
The good news is that you don’t need to register all your trademarks in one go. If you intend to start by making and selling clothes, file a trademark in class 25 only. In a year’s time, when you decide to launch a new sunglasses range, register a trademark in class 9. Not all trademarks must be filed before you use the brand. The only risk is that, should you in a year’s time file a class 9 trademark to protect your sunglasses, and should another person in the meantime have filed a trademark for a similar brand in class 9, the other person’s earlier trademark filing may prevent you from extending your current brand to sunglasses.
Also see our tips on creating a clothing trademark.