Trademark Class 25: Clothing, Footwear & Headwear
Class 25 covers clothing, footwear, and headwear.
Class 25 covers clothing, footwear & headwear. The USPTO charges $350 per class. With MARQ, a one-class federal registration is $849 all in — a flat $499 attorney fee plus the $350 USPTO fee at cost.
Class 25 is the apparel class. If you sell t-shirts, hoodies, hats, socks, shoes, dresses, activewear, swimwear, or underwear under a brand name, Class 25 is the class that covers those goods. It is one of the most crowded classes on the U.S. register, which is exactly why the search matters more here than almost anywhere else.
The crowding has a practical consequence. In a class with hundreds of thousands of live registrations, the odds that some earlier apparel mark is close to yours — in sound, appearance, or meaning — are high. A likelihood-of-confusion refusal under Section 2(d) is the single most common reason an apparel application dies, and it is almost always visible in a comprehensive search before you spend a dollar with the USPTO.
What Class 25 covers
- T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, jackets, coats
- Pants, jeans, shorts, skirts, dresses
- Activewear, leggings, sports bras, swimwear
- Underwear, socks, sleepwear, loungewear
- Shoes, boots, sandals, sneakers, slippers
- Hats, caps, beanies, visors, headbands worn as headwear
- Scarves, gloves, belts (when worn as clothing), ties
Typical Class 25 identifications look like: “Shirts; T-shirts; Hooded sweatshirts; Jackets; Pants; Hats; Caps being headwear; Socks; Footwear.” Note “caps being headwear” — the USPTO ID Manual expects that qualifier, because “caps” alone is ambiguous (bottle caps live elsewhere).
What Class 25 does not cover
Each of these is a separate class with its own $350 USPTO fee. Getting this boundary wrong is the most common reason a registration turns out not to protect what the owner thought it protected.
| If you also sell… | You need… |
|---|---|
| Handbags, wallets, backpacks, and luggage | Class 18 — leather goods, not clothing. A brand that sells both tees and tote bags needs 25 and 18. |
| Jewelry, watches, and cufflinks | Class 14. Accessories are not automatically in the clothing class. |
| Selling other brands’ clothing in your store or boutique | Class 35 — retail store services. Selling clothes is a service; making clothes under your brand is goods. |
| Custom printing or embroidery on someone else’s garments | Class 40 — treatment of materials. A print shop is not an apparel brand. |
| Sewing patterns, decals, and iron-on transfers | Classes 16 and 26 depending on the item. |
Who files in Class 25
- Streetwear and clothing labels
- Print-on-demand and merch brands
- Activewear, athleisure, and swimwear brands
- Footwear and sneaker brands
- Hat and headwear brands
- Gyms, bands, and creators selling branded merch as a real product line
Classes that usually go with Class 25
| Class | Why it comes up |
|---|---|
| Class 18 | Bags, wallets, backpacks — very common second class for an apparel brand. |
| Class 35 | If you also run a store (your own site selling other brands, or a boutique), retail services sit in 35, not 25. |
| Class 14 | Jewelry and watches, if the line extends that way. |
| Class 3 | Fragrance and body care, a frequent apparel brand extension. |
Cost math: each additional class is $350 more in USPTO fees. MARQ’s $499 attorney fee does not change. Two classes: $499 + $700 = $1,199. Three: $499 + $1,050 = $1,549.
Pitfalls specific to Class 25
Merch is not always a real Class 25 use
A single t-shirt you printed to prove use in commerce is a specimen problem waiting to happen. The USPTO wants evidence the mark functions as a source identifier for clothing — a hangtag, a neck label, a sewn-in tag, a product page where the mark identifies the brand of the shirt. A large logo splashed across the chest is “ornamental use,” and ornamental refusals are one of the most common Class 25 refusals in practice. A design across the front of a tee is decoration; the brand name on the tag is the trademark.
Class 25 is crowded, so “close enough” gets refused
Examiners in this class routinely refuse marks that are not identical but are confusingly similar for related goods — a one-letter difference, a plural, a different spelling of the same sound. Because all clothing is treated as related, a conflict on shoes can sink a mark for shirts. This is what a comprehensive search is for; a quick exact-match lookup will show you a clean field that is not actually clean.
Filing in 25 when you should be in 35 (or both)
If your business is really a store — you sell other people’s clothing — Class 25 does not describe what you do. If you do both (own label plus resale), you need both classes, and each carries its own $350 USPTO fee.
Class 25 questions
What trademark class is clothing in?
Clothing is Class 25, which covers clothing, footwear, and headwear. T-shirts, hoodies, hats, shoes, and activewear all sit in Class 25. Bags are Class 18, jewelry is Class 14, and running a store that sells apparel is Class 35.
How much does it cost to trademark a clothing brand?
For one class, $849 total: MARQ’s flat $499 attorney fee plus the USPTO’s $350 government filing fee for Class 25, billed at cost. An apparel brand that also files for bags in Class 18 pays an additional $350 in USPTO fees.
Do I need Class 25 and Class 35 for my clothing brand?
Only if you do both things. Class 25 protects the brand on the clothing you make and sell. Class 35 protects the brand as a retail store — including an online store selling goods you did not make. Many apparel businesses genuinely need both; many think they need both and only need 25.
Can I trademark a t-shirt design?
A design printed across a shirt is usually ornamental, not a trademark, so it will draw an ornamental refusal. What you register is the brand name or logo that identifies who makes the shirt — the label, the tag, the hangtag. Artwork is a copyright question, not a trademark one.
Filing in Class 25?
Start with the free search to see what is already on the register. The $49 comprehensive attorney report tells you whether the mark is clearable in this class — before you spend $350 with the USPTO. Registration is a flat $499 plus USPTO fees at cost.
Run a free searchSee flat pricingFree DIY search · $49 comprehensive attorney search · $499 + USPTO fees to register
Fee and deadline figures on this page come from the USPTO: trademark fee information, additional fees for trademark applications, and the USPTO trademarks dashboard. This page is general information about U.S. trademark law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney–client relationship. No attorney can guarantee registration — the USPTO decides.