Behind every label, collection and campaign sits a surprising amount of law. From the name above the door to the contracts that get a garment made, sold and seen, we help designers, brands and the businesses around them protect what they have built and grow with confidence. Practical, commercial advice for a fast-moving industry.
Fashion is a creative business, and a commercial one. A great idea only becomes a lasting brand when the legal foundations underneath it are sound: a name and logo you actually own, designs that are protected, suppliers and stockists held to clear agreements, and the right structure for the way you trade. Get those right early and you spend your energy on the work, not on disputes.
We act for designers, independent labels, makers, retailers and the agencies and manufacturers who work with them. Our approach is the same one that runs through everything at Pasha Legal: clear advice in plain English, honest costs set out before any work begins, and a focus on keeping you out of trouble rather than billing you through it. Whether you are launching your first collection or scaling an established label, we will tell you what matters now and what can wait.
What we can help with
From protecting a brand to getting a collection made and sold, these are the matters we are asked about most. If your situation spans more than one of them, having a single firm join up the whole picture saves you time, money and stress.
Your name and logo are often your most valuable asset. We help you clear, register and protect trade marks, and deal with copycats and infringement so the brand you build stays yours.
Designs, prints, photography and content all carry rights worth protecting. We advise on what you own, how to keep it, and how to license it to others on terms that work for you.
Clear agreements with manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers and stockists keep a collection moving and your margins safe. We draft and review the contracts that sit behind every order.
Collaborations, capsule collections and licensing deals can be a brilliant growth lever, or a costly tangle. We structure them so everyone knows who owns what, who gets paid, and what happens if it ends.
Marketing now runs on creators and partnerships. We help with influencer, ambassador and agency agreements, usage rights and disclosure obligations so a campaign builds the brand rather than a problem.
The right business structure, sound terms of trade, and online selling that meets Australian Consumer Law. We set up the commercial backbone so the label can scale, online and in store.
A new fashion business has a handful of legal foundations worth getting right from the start. None of them are complicated once explained, and putting them in place early is far cheaper than fixing a problem later:
1. Own your name. Check the name and logo are free to use, then register the trade mark in the classes that matter so a competitor cannot take it.
2. Protect the work. Make sure designs, prints, photography and content are owned by your business, including anything created by freelancers or agencies.
3. Get the agreements in writing. Manufacturers, stockists, collaborators and staff all need clear terms, so everyone knows the deal before there is a disagreement.
4. Trade the right way. The correct structure, terms of trade and online policies keep you compliant and limit your personal risk as you grow.
We can put all of this in place as a simple, staged plan, and tell you honestly what to do now and what can wait until the business is bigger.
We are expanding our fashion and law work alongside the firm's involvement in the International Bar Association programme. Detailed guides on specific topics are on the way. In the meantime, the best place to start is a short, confidential conversation about your brand.
How it works
We sit down with you, understand the label and where it is heading, and explain in plain English which legal foundations matter most right now.
We set out a simple, staged plan, what to protect first, what can wait, and exactly what it will cost, with written quotes before any work begins.
We register the brand, draft the agreements and set up the commercial backbone, then stay on hand as the business grows and new questions come up.
Common questions
General information to help you feel a little more prepared. It isn't advice about your situation, for that, have a confidential chat with us.
It is one of the smartest early investments a label can make. Registering your name and logo as a trade mark gives you the exclusive right to use them for your goods and makes it far easier to stop a competitor copying you. Trading without registration leaves you relying on slower, more expensive remedies, and risks someone else registering your name first. We can check whether your name is free to use, then handle the registration in the classes that matter for your business.
Not always you, which surprises a lot of brands. As a general rule the person who creates the work owns the copyright unless there is a written agreement assigning it to your business. That applies to designers, illustrators, photographers and agencies. The fix is simple: a short assignment clause in your contracts so that everything created for the brand belongs to the brand. We can put the right wording in place going forward and tidy up anything from the past.
The essentials are price and payment terms, quantities and timing, quality standards, who carries the risk if something goes wrong, what happens to unsold or faulty stock, and how either side can end the arrangement. For overseas manufacturing, it also pays to be clear about intellectual property and which country's law applies. A clear agreement is not about distrust, it is what keeps a good working relationship good. We draft and review these so your collection keeps moving and your margins are protected.
A written agreement that covers the deliverables, the fee, exclusivity, and crucially the usage rights, so you can keep using the content you have paid for. Both brands and creators also have disclosure obligations under Australian Consumer Law and the relevant advertising guidance, which means paid partnerships need to be clearly identified. We help you set up simple, reusable agreements and stay on the right side of the rules.
That depends on what rights you hold and how blatant the copying is, but you usually have more options than you think, especially if your trade mark and designs are protected. The first step is often a carefully worded letter, which resolves many cases without going further. Where it does not, there are formal avenues to enforce your rights. The sooner you act the stronger your position, so it is worth getting advice quickly rather than waiting and hoping it stops.
Less than most people expect to start, and we never leave you guessing. We give you clear, written costs before any work begins, and we can stage the work so you protect the most important things first and add to it as the business grows. Tell us where the brand is now and we will give you an honest sense of what matters today and what it will cost.
Whether you are launching a label or scaling an established one, a short, confidential conversation is the easiest way to find out what to protect first. Tell us what you are building and we will explain, honestly, how we can help and what it will cost.