Your name is your label. Protect it like one.

You picked the name at 2 AM and it just felt right. The tags are printed. The Instagram handle is yours. The first drop sold out in a weekend. Then one of two things happens: a cease-and-desist lands in your inbox, or you discover — too late — that someone filed your name as a trademark six months ago. Both hurt. Both are preventable. A Class 25 trademark filing costs less than one production run, and it is the single cheapest insurance a clothing brand can buy.

What Class 25 actually covers

Trademarks are registered class-wise — 45 classes under the NICE system, 1 to 34 for goods and 35 to 45 for services. Class 25 is the apparel class: clothing, footwear, and headgear. T-shirts, jeans, kurtas, dresses, sneakers, caps, socks, jackets, ethnic wear, activewear — if people wear it, it lives here.

A practitioner aside, because this trips up fashion founders constantly: handbags and leather goods are not Class 25. They sit in Class 18. Belts worn as clothing accessories stay in 25, but the moment you sell bags, you need 18 too. And if you run your own retail store or website selling the label, Class 35 (retail services) enters the picture. Most apparel brands I see file 25 first and add 35 when the store scales. File for what you sell today; expand as the business grows.

The big decision: word mark or logo?

This is the question every clothing founder asks, and the answer matters more than most realise. A word mark protects the name itself — in any font, any size, any styling. A logo (device mark) protects the specific design you filed: that exact artwork, those exact colours.

Here is my honest opinion after watching apparel disputes play out: file the word mark first. Always. A word mark is broader — it stops a copycat using your name even with a completely different logo. A logo-only filing is narrower; change your packaging design next season and your protection no longer matches what is on the shelf. The smart sequence for a clothing label is word mark now, logo as a second filing when the visual identity settles. Two filings, two fees, far stronger coverage than one logo filing ever gives you.

How the filing works

The application goes in Form TM-A, naming Class 25 and describing your goods — be specific ("clothing, namely t-shirts, shirts and denims" beats a vague "apparel"). Not sure which classes your label touches? Run it through our trademark class finder first. India allows multi-class applications in a single TM-A, so you can add Class 18 or 35 in the same filing, paying the fee per class: ₹4,500 per class for individuals, startups and small enterprises, ₹9,000 for companies, when filed electronically.

One field founders undervalue: the user date — the date you first used the brand in commerce. If you have been selling for a year, claim it, and keep the evidence ready (invoices, website archives, Instagram posts with dates). Prior use is your strongest weapon if anyone challenges the mark later.

The name trap: Section 9

Not every name can be a trademark, and apparel is full of names that cannot. "Delhi Denims" for jeans, "Pure Cotton" for t-shirts, "Mumbai Streetwear" — these describe the product or the place. The Registry will object under Section 9 (absolute grounds): a mark must be distinctive, not descriptive. Pick a name with some invented character to it. The quirkier the name, the smoother the registration. That is not branding advice, it is legal arithmetic.

Use ™ now, ® later

The day you file, start using ™ next to your brand name — on tags, the website, packaging. It signals a claim. The ® symbol is different: it is reserved strictly for registered marks, and using it before registration is an offence. File first, ™ immediately, ® only when the certificate arrives.

What happens after you file

Expect an examination report, usually with objections — this is routine, not a rejection. You reply within 30 days (extendable via Form TM-M), addressing each objection with legal submissions and evidence. If the examiner is satisfied, the mark is advertised in the Trade Marks Journal for a 4-month opposition window. No opposition, and the registration certificate is yours. The whole journey typically takes 12 to 18 months if unopposed. Your protection, though, dates back to the filing date.

After registration: renew and watch

A trademark registration lasts 10 years and is renewable indefinitely, in 10-year blocks. Put the renewal date in your calendar the day the certificate arrives — a lapsed mark can be restored, but the gap leaves you exposed. And registration is not the end of the job. Watch the market. Set up alerts for your brand name, check new marketplace sellers, and act on copycats early. A trademark you never enforce slowly becomes a trademark you cannot enforce. The filing is the foundation; vigilance is the building.

Your label deserves better than a prayer and an Instagram handle. If you want the Class 25 filing — word mark strategy, class selection, the whole TM-A — handled properly from day one, our team files trademarks for apparel brands every week.