Product Category: Activewear
“As DFYNE grew at an incredible pace, we quickly realised that being copied was an inevitable consequence of becoming a recognisable brand. But for us, it’s about much more than someone reproducing a design.
– Toby Ross, Head of Brand and Marketing
Founded in 2021, DFYNE has become one of the UK’s fastest-growing activewear brands, reaching £66.8 million in sales in just four years—a 517% increase. In 2026 their rapid growth continued with new innovative lines being launched such as the “switch” collection and DEFY. Known for high-quality, body-inclusive and sustainable gymwear, DFYNE’s rapid growth also made it an increasingly attractive target for counterfeiters and copycats.
As DFYNE’s profile grew, so did the scale and sophistication of online infringement.
Counterfeit products, copied imagery, impersonation websites and viral “dupes” were spreading across e-commerce and social media, particularly on platforms including AliExpress, Alibaba and TikTok. Internal enforcement efforts were becoming increasingly time-consuming, while the sheer speed of new infringements made it difficult to stay ahead.
For DFYNE, the issue went beyond lost sales.
Every fake product and misleading listing had the potential to dilute the brand, undermine customer trust and damage the reputation the business had worked hard to build.
Nobody DFYNE’s Us.
"As DFYNE grew at an incredible pace, we quickly realised that being copied was an inevitable consequence of becoming a recognisable brand. But for us, it’s about much more than someone reproducing a design. Our products, our community and the identity we’ve built around DFYNE are the result of years of investment, creativity and hard work. Protecting that brand became increasingly important as we scaled — not just to defend what we had created, but to make sure our customers could continue to trust that what they were buying was genuinely DFYNE."
DFYNE faced online threats from counterfeiting, impersonation, and dupes across online platforms and social media on a viral scale that made it impossible to manage in-house.
DFYNE saw their reputation, customer trust, and revenue at risk.
By partnering with SnapDragon they were able to move to a proactive, continuous, technology-driven brand protection strategy.
The programme combined:
The strategy initially focused on high-volume counterfeit activity across TikTok, AliExpress and Alibaba, using DFYNE’s EU and WIPO intellectual property rights to support enforcement.
But the threat landscape didn’t stand still—and neither did the strategy.
When counterfeiters began exploiting gaps in Chinese trademark coverage by stealing official DFYNE imagery and using it across local Asian marketplaces, SnapDragon adapted the approach, prioritising copyright enforcement while DFYNE progressed its Chinese trademark registration.
This ability to identify emerging infringement patterns and adapt enforcement accordingly became a critical part of the brand protection programme.
The results demonstrate the value of combining smart technology with specialist brand protection expertise.
In the first year alone, DFYNE achieved a 98% enforcement success rate, with more than 13,600 infringing listings and 460 dupe videos being removed.
As the brand’s visibility grew and demand rocketed, infringers and counterfeit sourcing networks tried to take advantage, resulting in an increase in infringement volumes. This is the reality with rapidly expanding brands who will naturally attract greater levels of counterfeit targeting, however for DFYNE, the infringement threats had to resort to evolving and evasive tactics meaning driving volumes was becoming challenging, and this reflected the awareness of ongoing Brand Protection and enforcement activity being in place, resulting in heightened risk sensitivity among infringers.
This dynamic approach keeps DFYNE secure on key platforms, safeguarding customer trust, preserving brand value, and supporting sustained revenue growth — no matter where new threats emerge.
Over the last 12 months, the programme has continued to scale, with over 18,500 fake listings and 1,600 pieces of dupe content removed.
Early on, DFYNE’s limited internal resources and the fast-changing tactics from counterfeiters led to resources being drained, keeping teams away from growing the brand.
DFYNE’s brand protection journey was strengthened by SnapDragon’s advanced AI technology and a dedicated brand protection specialist – who worked tirelessly to get to know the DFYNE brand well, feeding this knowledge into the AI-tech to be able to adapt to the brand’s evolving needs.
Also, strong partnerships between SnapDragon and platforms such as TikTok and Alibaba assisted with enforcement, sharing digital evidence and information to enable swift and effective takedowns across key channels.
DFYNE’s experience highlights a fundamental challenge for high-growth brands: the bigger your brand becomes, the more attractive it becomes to counterfeiters.
Effective brand protection therefore needs to scale and evolve alongside the business.
That means being:
Fast — responding before infringements gain momentum.
Adaptive — changing tactics as counterfeiters change theirs.
Far-reaching — monitoring the channels and markets where threats emerge.
Proactive — identifying and addressing risks before they escalate.
DFYNE’s partnership with SnapDragon demonstrates how AI-powered technology, specialist expertise and strong platform relationships can turn brand protection from a reactive burden into a strategic capability.
As Toby Ross puts it, protecting DFYNE is about ensuring customers can continue to trust that what they are buying is genuinely DFYNE.
Copyright infringement, dupes and counterfeit products examples.
Discover how SnapDragon’s AI-powered technology and expert enforcement can help you detect, prioritise and respond to online brand threats at scale.
Want to see it in action? Get in touch to schedule a personalised demo and explore how SnapDragon can help protect your brand as it grows and evolves.
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