A fashion label almost never fits in one trademark class, but in Nepal's published register three in four apparel owners have filed in one only. Clothing is Class 25; bags, jewellery, fabric and the shop itself each sit elsewhere, and Sec. 18A allows one class per application.
Key takeaways
- Class 25 is clothing, footwear and headwear. That wording is current; older Nepali paperwork still says headgear.
- Class 25 holds about 2,689 published marks, from roughly 1,605 applicant records — the ninth largest class on Nepal's register.
- Only about 378 of those 1,605 owners hold a mark in any other class. Three in four apparel filers are single-class.
- Bags are Class 18, jewellery Class 14, fabric Class 24, trims Class 26, tailoring Class 40 and a shop Class 35.
- A trademark covers the name and logo, never the cut of the garment; the shape or print is an industrial design question.
- A registration runs 7 years (Sec. 18D) and is renewable, but Sec. 18C allows cancellation of a mark unused within a year.
Which class covers clothing in Nepal?
Class 25, whose current heading at WIPO reads clothing, footwear and headwear. Saris, shawls, scarves, caps and shoes all belong there.
The Department of Industry applies the Nice list under Sec. 18A of the Patent, Design and Trademark Act 1965, which it adopts by notification rather than by treaty. One application covers one class.
A good deal of Nepali paperwork still prints the older word headgear. Nothing turns on it, but quote the current heading when you draft your own specification.
How crowded is Class 25 here?
Moderately, and it is growing fast. We extract every entry from every Industrial Property Bulletin, and Class 25 holds about 2,689 published marks from roughly 1,605 applicant records, which makes it the ninth busiest of the 45 classes.
Published filings in the class rose from about 121 in 2016 to about 308 in 2025, with a collapse to 59 in 2020. Apparel is one of the faster-moving parts of the register.
About 1,739 of those marks belong to Nepali applicants, with the United States, India and China supplying most of the rest. You can browse the class yourself with the class search.
Do Nepali fashion brands file in more than one class?
Mostly not, and this is the number worth sitting with. Of those roughly 1,605 applicant records holding a Class 25 mark, only about 378 hold a mark in any other class at all.
That leaves around 1,227 owners, more than three in four, whose entire protection is a single clothing filing. About 171 also hold Class 18, about 130 also hold Class 35, and about 87 also hold Class 24.
Why does single-class filing matter for a fashion label?
Because a fashion business rarely sells only garments. The tote bag at the counter, the silver pendant in the lookbook and the shop sign above the door are each a different class of activity.
A Class 25 registration stops a competitor putting your name on shirts. It does not stop the same person putting it on handbags, on a boutique, or on bolts of printed cloth.
That is not a loophole; it is how the classification works everywhere. Under Sec. 16 title comes from what you registered, so the classes you left out are simply classes you do not own.
The risk is sharper in Nepal only because Sec. 18A forbids the multi-class application that would otherwise catch the whole range in one go.
Which classes does a full fashion range touch?
More than most founders expect. The table below maps the usual parts of a label to the class each one lives in, with the size of that class in our extraction of the register.
| What you sell | Class | Marks published in Nepal |
|---|---|---|
| Clothing, footwear, headwear | 25 | about 2,689 |
| Bags, luggage, belts, leather goods | 18 | about 593 |
| Jewellery and watches | 14 | about 587 |
| Fabric by the metre, bed and table linen | 24 | about 272 |
| Zips, buttons, ribbons and trims | 26 | about 100 |
| Custom tailoring and dyeing for others | 40 | about 136 |
| A named shop, online store or marketplace | 35 | about 3,804 |
Counts are published bulletin entries rather than official Department statistics. They show relative crowding, not the live status of any individual mark.
Where do bags and belts sit?
In Class 18, with luggage, wallets and leather goods generally. It holds about 593 published marks here, roughly a fifth of Class 25's size.
This is the most common second filing for a Nepali apparel owner, which makes sense: a clothing label adds a tote long before it adds a jewellery line.
Where does jewellery sit?
Class 14, which covers precious metals, jewellery and horological instruments, and holds about 587 marks. Only about 60 Class 25 owners also appear there.
If a clothing brand plans a silver or beadwork line, the gap between those numbers is the whole point. Very few apparel names in Nepal are protected on jewellery at all.
Does a fashion shop need Class 35?
If the shop has a name of its own, yes. Retail and online store services are Class 35, and the class is one of the largest on the register at about 3,804 marks.
Where the shop and the label share one name, a Class 25 filing carries most of the weight. Where the store name differs from the garment brand, only a Class 35 filing protects the store.
The goods-versus-services distinction is the underlying idea, and it is the one that causes the most reclassification queries.
What about fabric, tailoring and trims?
Fabric sold by the metre is Class 24, at about 272 marks. Zips, buttons and ribbons are Class 26, at about 100.
Tailoring or dyeing carried out for other people is Class 40, a service class holding about 136 marks, of which only about ten belong to a Class 25 owner. A workshop that stitches under contract for other brands is in that class, not in Class 25.
Which class should you file first?
Whichever one a copycat would reach for. For most labels that is Class 25, because the garments carry the name into the widest number of hands.
Does a trademark protect the garment design?
No. A trademark protects the sign that identifies the maker, which is the name, the logo, the woven label and the printed tag.
The cut of a jacket, the shape of a bag or an original surface print is an industrial design question, handled by our industrial design service. Designs carry a shorter term and only 35 days to object after publication under Sec. 21A.
Both filings can run for the same product, and neither substitutes for the other.
Should you file the word or the logo?
About 2,015 of the 2,689 Class 25 marks in our extraction carry a logo image, so a device filing is the norm in this class.
That is not the same as it being the right choice. A logo filing protects the specific artwork, and a redesign next season may fall outside it, whereas the plain word survives every restyle.
Where the budget allows only one, most labels are better served by the word, and the logo decision deserves a conversation rather than a default.
How do you file a fashion mark in Nepal?
The sequence is the same for every class, and you repeat it once per application.
- Search widely before anything is printed, including sound-alikes and Devanagari spellings, using the conflict checker and a proper availability check.
- List the range honestly and map each part to its class with the Nice class finder.
- Decide the order of filings if you cannot afford all of them at once.
- Prepare a clean label of the mark exactly as it will appear on the neck tag and the swing ticket.
- File under Sec. 17 and keep the acknowledgment, because the application number is what you will quote for the next two years.
- Answer the examiner within the deadline; the Department checks distinctiveness and conflict with earlier marks under Sec. 18.
- Watch the bulletin, then collect the registration certificate once the objection window has closed.
Read the deadline carefully. The trademark opposition period is 90 days from publication in the Industrial Property Bulletin; rely on the deadline the Department of Industry states and act before the last day.
What documents does a fashion label need?
A company files the application form, a clear label of the mark, a notarised power of attorney, a board resolution, its industry or business registration documents where the business needs them, and its latest tax clearance letter. A newly formed company will not have a tax clearance yet, so confirm the Department of Industry's current checklist.
A sole trader files the same core set with whatever business records apply. A foreign fashion house files through a Nepal-based agent and encloses a certified copy of its home registration in English, because Nepal is outside the Madrid System.
Our document checklist sets out the usual set, and requirements change, so confirm with the Department before you notarise.
How long does it take, and what drives the cost?
An unopposed application commonly runs about 12 to 14 months from filing to certificate, and only the smoothest files move faster. The details are in the timing guide.
Cost turns mainly on the number of classes, because official charges arise per application, which is exactly why the sequencing question above matters. Ask through the contact page for a figure on your own range.
Registration lasts seven years under Sec. 18D and is renewable in further seven-year terms under Sec. 23B, whose text the Nepal Law Commission publishes.
Common mistakes fashion labels make
- Filing Class 25 and calling it done. The accessories, the shop and the fabric line are each outside it.
- Filing every class at once when three of them describe a range that does not exist yet. Under Sec. 18C an unused mark can be cancelled within a year.
- Waiting for the launch. Nepal is first-to-file, and an Instagram teaser tells a squatter the name before it tells a customer.
- Assuming the company name protects the brand. Incorporation creates an entity, not a mark.
- Searching only the exact spelling, when confusing similarity is judged on sound, look and meaning together.
- Claiming registration early. Sec. 18B prohibits presenting a mark as registered before it is, and Sec. 19 backs that with a fine and confiscation of the goods.
- Filing the current logo and rebranding a year later, which leaves the certificate describing artwork nobody uses.
What would a label's class plan look like?
Here is an illustration, not a real case. A Kathmandu studio sells hand-block kurtas and scarves online, has just added a canvas tote, and plans a Thamel shop under the same name next year.
The garments and scarves are Class 25 and go first, because they carry the name furthest. The tote is Class 18 and follows once it is a line rather than a sample.
The shop needs Class 35 only if it also stocks other labels; under one shared name the Class 25 filing does most of the work. That is three applications over two years, not three on day one.
In short
Register the clothing first, then add the class that matches whatever part of the range has become real. Nepal's one-class rule makes fashion a sequencing problem rather than a single decision.
The register suggests most labels never get past the first step. Three in four Class 25 owners here hold nothing else, which leaves the bags, the jewellery and the shop name open to anyone who files them.
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Send us your product list and we will map it to classes and check each one against the published marks before you print a single label — start here.
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