If the idea of “shorts as formal wear” has enjoyed any form of renaissance over the past few years, thanks to American designer Thom Browne, who featured mini-short set of clothes turned the Met Gala carpet, NBA tunnels and global fashion weeks into remarkable venues. Tom Ford may have banished shorts from Manhattan Island, but Browne and noisy cadre of famous ambassador brought them back to the city, gliding on waves of youthful gray twill accented with different three, four, and five-stripes.
And Browne, often his own boldest advocate of the formal shorts program, has found an even more fun place to wear them: to court. Arriving at the U.S. District Court in Manhattan this morning, designer Thom Browne donned a head-to-toe prototype Thom Browne suit: a jacket and tie, a knit sweater, leather brogues, and shorts. matched with an above-the-knee suit — all the better to showcase his four-striped athletic socks.
For context: in 2021, German sportswear manufacturer Adidas filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the Thom Browne label, citing what they call a similarity between their famous three-striped brand and other brands. parallel stripes (in sets of two, three and at most). usually four) commonly found around the calves, thighs and upper arms of Thom Browne clothing. lawsuit states that “Thom Browne apparel and sneakers feature three and four stripes in a manner that adidas claims is capable of misleading, confusing, and misleading actual and potential buyers of its merchandise. adidas,” with a particular focus on its ongoing sports collaboration with Spanish football giants FC Barcelona (and that club’s longtime Adidas star, Lionel Messi). The label opposes this assertion, essentially saying that Adidas is reprocessing ground beef: “It is important to understand that Adidas agreed with Thom Browne over 10 years ago and in fact offered Thom more an additional stripe to achieve the number four on the mark. sleeves or pants and this should be fine with Adidas. From that point on, for more than a decade, Adidas has never said a word to Thom Browne,” a brand spokesperson said. WWD in 2021. “It is only now, when Thom has finally achieved some real success, that Adidas behaves differently.”
Both Adidas and Thom Browne can make shorts with lots of stripes, although you can just wear their shorts in court – even if only Thom Browne himself can do it. That said, it looks like the designer just followed the advice he gave GQ about wearing shorts in places where shorts are not worn: “…dude…if you want…then do…”
