High Country Trade Dress

David Connolly
12 hours ago
4 min read

What Is Trade Dress — And Why It Matters for GREEN TAB High Country

In the apparel world, trade dress is the silent handshake between a brand and its customers. It’s the look, the feel, and the visual identity that instantly tells you who made the garment — even before you check the tag.

Trade dress isn’t marketing fluff, it's a legal right, enforceable just like a trademark or a design registration. When a brand consistently uses specific visual cues, and consumers recognise those cues as coming from that brand alone, the law steps in to protect it.

For GREEN TAB High Country, trade dress sits at the heart of our product line. The combination of the Green Tab, the three-peak arcuate stitching, and the placement conventions across jackets and denim isn’t decoration — it’s our signature. It’s how our customers recognise authentic High Country gear in the wild.

Why does this matter?

Because in a market full of look-alikes clarity matters. Trade dress protection keeps the industry honest, safeguards the originality of our designs, and ensures the customer always knows when they’re buying the real thing.

High Country isn’t copying anyone. High Country is setting its own lane — and we’re protecting it properly.

Behind the Design: How High Country’s Signature Trade Dress Came to Be

When you see a pair of our jeans or a Trucker Jacket from the High Country series, the details aren’t random. They’re purposeful. They tell a story of heritage, durability, and a new frontier of rugged sustainability. Here’s how the key design cues came together:

1. The Green Tab

The small tab at the back pocket or Trucker Jacket breast sewn into the seam — that’s not just a dash of color. It’s the Green Tab: our visual signature that confirms our proprietary materials. It draws from the idea of a “tab” as a marker — the brand’s mark in the classic denim world. It matches the durable Alpine/outdoor aesthetic while still standing out; it becomes a recognition cue for the consumer.

2. The Three-Peak Arcuate Stitching

Across our denim and jackets we’ve placed the three-peak mountain motif: on the rear left pocket of jeans, and on the right breast pocket of jackets. Why? Because mountains universally represent rugged terrain, endurance, and the frontier - whilst at home the High Country is the birthplace of Australian Values and an enduring symbol of Australian ingenuity. It’s part of the brand story: Heritage Gear for the New Frontier.

The stitching is not just decoration—it is our trade dress in action. It signals: this is from the High Country line.

3. Placement Matters

Trade dress isn’t only about what the mark is, but where it sits.

On the denim jeans: Rear left pocket only.
On the denim jacket: Right breast pocket only.
On workwear versions: subtle placement to retain authenticity, not overt branding. This consistent placement helps the customer instantly identify High Country gear, and supports our legal position of “look and feel” that is unique.

4. Material & Tone Alignment

We believe that trade dress must live in harmony with the rest of the garment—not feel like an afterthought. So:

The Green Tab adapts slightly to harmonise with khaki tones (urban → stone khaki; country → warm tan, desert clay).
The stitching and tab contrast are calculated: enough to stand out, not so much that they feel branded like a billboard.
Materials like our STRETCH denim, vegetable-tanned leather trims, and the low-impact dyes all support the narrative of enduring workwear in rugged environments.

5. Why It All Adds Up

When someone sees those three peaks and that tab, they don’t just see a pair of jeans. They see a commitment: to sustainability, to craft, to authenticity.

Because the trade dress is embedded in the product from conception—our logos, tabs, stitching, placement, colour cues—it becomes part of the brand’s language, not just an after-thought.

Public Notice: GREEN TAB High Country Trade Dress & Brand Protection

This is a formal notice regarding the protected visual identity — the trade dress — of the GREEN TAB High Country apparel line.

High Country is built on original, legally-protected design elements that distinguish our products from every other brand in the market. These elements are not generic. They are not public-domain. They are not available for imitation.

The following components form the High Country trade dress, and are protected accordingly:

1. The STORM Green Tab & Green Tab portfolio

A proprietary material tab, sewn flush into the seam, used on:

Denim Jeans (rear pocket area), and
The Mark 1, Mark 2 Trucker Jacket's and other outerwear (right breast pocket).

This tab is part of the Green Tab Materials Portfolio, held by David James Connolly, and supported by multiple Design Registrations filed with IP Australia.

2. Three-Peak Arcuate Stitching (Registered Design)

This is the distinctive mountain-inspired stitch pattern appearing:

On Denim Jeans: rear left pocket only
On Trucker Jackets: right breast pocket only

The placement is intentional, consistent, and central to consumer recognition. It is registered, certified, and legally enforceable.

3. The High Country Identity Marks

The broader Mountain-Peak master logo, the “High Country” brand identity, and the phrase “Heritage Gear for the Next Frontier” are registered trademarks under the ownership of David James Connolly.

These marks are not available for use by any third party in apparel, accessories, or related categories.

4. Protected Look & Feel

It is not just the logo or stitching that is protected — it is the overall presentation, including:

The specific placement of the tab
The proportion and geometry of the mountain-peak stitching
The colour and tone combinations across khaki, indigo, alpine green and frost grey
The integration of Green Tab materials such as STORM, TOUGH, STRETCH and TransDRY within the apparel line

Consumers recognise these elements as originating from GREEN TAB High Country, not from any other brand. That recognition forms the basis of enforceable trade dress rights.

5. Market Notice

Any unauthorised reproduction, imitation, adaptation or misleadingly similar use of these design elements — individually or in combination — may constitute: