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Global IP fashion portfolio case study: Establishing distinctiveness

Global IP strategy for a pioneering outdoor brand.
40+ trade marks and 100 designs secured across 20 territories.
One-of-a-kind protection for a one-of-a-kind product.
Another client success story, supported by Addleshaw Goddard.

Dryrobe is a British outdoor clothing brand founded in 2010 by surfer Gideon Bright. It pioneered the ‘outdoor changing robe’ which provides a better way to change out of wetsuits or swimwear in cold, wet conditions. Since its launch, Dryrobe has rapidly become an internationally recognised sporting brand.

The Dryrobe team wanted to better organise the brand’s intellectual property and protect its brand identity, as they began to scale in the UK and internationally. They instructed us to help proactively manage brand enforcement and ultimately help to create cost-efficient and scalable legal systems for its IP.

A few fast facts

40

100

20

5

trade marks managed

designs managed

territories protected

year relationship

40

100

trade marks managed

designs managed

20

5

territories protected

year relationship

What happened

We took the time to get to know the Dryrobe business, from its origin to today, working with the team to identify and protect key marks and designs used in their products. An important part of this work was educating the market and consumers as to how they should refer to the “category” of product which Dryrobe falls into. This was done to preserve the distinctiveness of the brand as the market became more crowded with similar products and ensure that only genuine “Dryrobe” products were called a “Dryrobe” by consumers.

We also worked with the brand to create a strategy to help them address lookalike brands and products, always ensuring that the action taken was proportionate to the type of infringer, including making use of online enforcement.

The outcome

Dryrobe now has a ‘playbook’ of shortcuts that helps save time when it comes to enforcement and has greatly improved its day-to-day brand ‘hygiene’. It also includes standard enforcement pathways, empowering Dryrobe to take action to protect its brand assets while keeping costs down.

This project specifically helped Dryrobe to create and file non-traditional marks which protect some of its non-standard brand identifiers. Ultimately, the work we carried out will help the pioneering brand to remain one-of-a-kind.