Sneaker logos and names: The most famous sneaker brand logos
How many sneaker brand logos can you visualize right now? From the iconic swoosh of Nike to the leaping cat of Puma, there’s no shortage of options to choose from. The average sneaker enthusiast could probably sketch dozens of sneaker logos in seconds.
Like any brand emblem, a sneaker logo is an opportunity for a company to set itself apart from the crowd in an extremely popular market. Of course, popular sneaker logos have to be more aesthetically and emotionally appealing than most brand marks.
These logos aren’t just used on packaging for products and websites, they’re also printed and stitched onto the products themselves. This means sneaker logos need to be something the target audience is happy, or even proud to wear.
To learn a little more about how sneaker companies convince their fans to wear their logos like a badge of honor, we’re going to explore some famous sneaker brands.
Here are the most popular sneaker logos to inspire and inform you.
Famous sneaker brands: The top sneaker brand logos
While there are plenty of sneaker brands out there, some logos are definitely better-known than others. Today, we’re going to be looking specifically at the famous sneaker logos known for capturing the attention of audiences all over the globe.
You may notice, while each sneaker logo has its own distinctive elements, there are some commonalities in the industry too. Because sneaker logos need to be depicted on the shoes the company sells, they’re often designed to be as simple as possible.
More minimalist logos are easier to fit onto a range of shoe sizes.
Similarly, it’s common to use black, or black and white as the coloring for the majority of sneaker brand logos, because these colors work well in a range of designs. Since shoe companies produce products in a range of colors, they need to ensure the logo won’t clash.
With those insights in mind, let’s start our sneaker brand logo list.
Nike
Easily one of the most famous sneaker brand logos in history, the Nike swoosh is a symbol of incredible branding. Nike’s simple but iconic logo is intended to represent the wing of the goddess Nike, associated often with victory and speed.
However, it also looks similar to a check mark, which conveys a sense of victory and ambition.
Nike’s logo was originally designed by Carolyn Davidson for the tiny price tag of $35. Today, the image has become the ultimate example of how something simple can embody the entire ethos of a brand and its personality.
Find out more about the Nike logo here.
Fila
An Italian company first introduced in 1911, the Fila Company has become a popular name among customers in search of comfortable and affordable shoes. Fila is extremely popular in various parts of the world for its modern approach to shoe design.
Fila’s logo is as contemporary and eye-catching as the brand itself. The “L” and “A” of the wordmark appear to connect together to create a unique shape. Additionally, the two bars in the “F” are separated, creating something similar to an equals sign.
Find out more about the Fila logo here.
Adidas
First introduced in 1924, the Adidas symbol was created when Adolf Dassler began his own athletic shoe company from his mother’s laundry room. The design started much more complicated than the one we know today, but eventually evolved to focus on 3 simple stripes.
The Adidas logo these days is intended to look similar to a mountain, demonstrating the ambition and potential of the athletes wearing Adidas shoes. The design often appears in a range of colors and sizes across Adidas sneakers.
Find out more about the Adidas logo here.
Puma
Created by the brother of the Adidas founder, Adolf Dassler, Puma is another example of an iconic sneaker brand logo and company. The brand has evolved a number of times since it was first founded in 1948, and now holds one of the most famous animal-based logos in the sneaker industry.
Like many sneaker companies, Puma chose a sans-serif font for its wordmark, accompanied by a sleek leaping puma. The cat sometimes appears on its own across Puma products.
Find out more about the Puma logo here.
Vans
First launched in 1966, Vans is a Californian sneaker company with an alternative edge. The company specializes in producing shoes for skateboarders, but all kinds of people love the comfortable Vans design.
The Vans logo represents the bold nature of the brand.
Designed by the son of the president of Vans as a stencil to spray-paint onto his skateboard, the Vans logo consists of a confident sans-serif font and capital letters. The line of the “V” extends over the top of the rest of the letters, like a skateboard over wheels.
Find out more about the Vans logo here.
Converse
Easily one of the most memorable sneaker logos and names in the world, Converse is best-known for producing canvas shoes in a range of different styles for modern consumers. The casual footwear company has belonged to Nike for a few years now.
Simple but compelling, the Converse combination mark includes a sans-serif wordmark in all capital letters, with a design showing an arrow and a star. The eye-catching image highlights forward motion and innovation.
Often, this symbol appears alone on Converse shoes, without the wordmark.
Find out more about the Converse logo here.
DC
Specializing in clothes for action sports like snowboarding and skateboarding, DC Shoes has emerged as a powerful shoe brand in the American landscape. The company first appeared in 1994, and originally used the letters “DC” to refer to “Droors Clothing”.
The compelling monogram created by DC overlaps the two letters of the company’s name in an interlocking design similar to the links in a chain. The use of a star between the two points of the letter “C”, highlights the brand personality as fun and exciting.
Find out more about the DC Shoes logo here.
New Balance
Founded originally in 1906, New Balance has emerged to become one of the most famous sneaker brands in America today. This company hasn’t changed its logo much over the years since Willian J. Riley introduced the brand to the world.
Today, the New Balance logo features the name of the company in all lowercase letters, alongside a monogram for “NB”. The two letters look as though they’re almost melded together, and they lean slightly to the right, conveying ideas of speed and innovation.
Learn more about the New Balance logo here.
Under Armour
One of the most popular companies in the American sports clothing landscape today, Under Armour manufactures a wide range of footwear, sports, and casual apparel. The company is well-known for its commitment to sustainability, and collaborations with other major figures.
Like many famous sneaker brand logos, Under Armour uses a combination mark, featuring an all-capital sans-serif wordmark to highlight the confidence of the company. The “UA” monogram overlaps the “U” on top of the “A” to create a unique design.
Learn more about the Under Armour logo here.
Skechers
Best-known for the creation of flexible, affordable, and comfortable sneakers, Skechers USA was founded in 1992 and has grown in popularity ever since. Though the company has had some issues in the past, it has worked to overcome controversies with its philanthropic endeavors.
The Skechers logo features the name of the company in all capital letters, angled slightly towards the right to convey movement and speed. The large capital “S” sometimes appears in a variety of colors on Skechers shoes.
Find out more about the Skechers logo here.
Umbro
Though technically a UK brand of training shoes and athletic apparel, Umbro has developed a worldwide presence for its high-quality sports equipment. The Umbro sneaker brand logo is present in more than 90 countries around the world, as a subsidiary of the Iconix brand.
Umbro’s logo is a double diamond shape placed on its side. The image aims to make customers think of things like quality and prestige. Umbro’s logo also features a wordmark, though this isn’t always present on the shoes themselves.
The wordmark is in all lowercase, unlike with most sneaker brand logos.
Wilson
Wilson, or Wilson Sporting Goods, is an American brand committed to selling all kinds of sporting equipment for American football, baseball, basketball, and countless other games. While the company is best-known for equipment, it also sells athletic shoes too.
The Wilson logo is surprisingly elegant for an athletic company. The letters appear to be written in a cursive font, with a graceful twist to them. The company also chose the color red as its central color, while most speaker brands choose black.
Lacoste
A French company with a prestigious presence around the world, Lacoste was founded in 1933, by a famous tennis player named Rene Lacoste, in collaboration with André Gillier. The company sells a huge range of different clothing and sportswear items, including sneakers.
This sneaker brand logo is one of the few (alongside Puma) to use an animal as its primary emblem.
The Lacoste alligator actually comes from the tennis player’s nickname when he was playing professionally, before creating the Lacoste Company.
Air Jordan
Air Jordan is actually a brand belonging to Nike, and associated with the famous basketball player, Michael Jordan. The Air Jordan product line has one of the more unique logos on our list of sneaker brands, featuring a silhouette of the basketball player leaping into the air.
This logo is one of the more complex in the sneaker industry, thanks to its level of detail, but it’s also extremely powerful, as it helps to create a connection between the customers buying the product, and the superstar athlete they idolize.
Find out more about the Air Jordan logo here.
Reebok
First founded in 1895, Reebok is a sneaker company with a lot more heritage than many people realize. Today, the company accounts for one of the most famous sneaker logos and names in history, with a presence in the sporting landscape all over the world.
Reebok’s logo is one of the few to feature a wordmark with a standard name-style capitalization. The letters of this logo are modern and eye-catching, with a sans-serif finish. Reebok also uses an emblem with a set of lines crossing over eachother to demonstrate performance and competition.
Diadora
A world apart from many of the emblems on our sneaker brand logo list, the Diadora image is an interesting design from the Italian sportswear and footwear company. Diadora products a huge range of clothing products, from hoodies and leggings to jackets and shorts.
The most eye-catching part of the Diadora logo are the block circles in the letters, which work together with slick, slim lines to create a design which almost doesn’t look like a wordmark. The logo also features an interesting flourish above the “O”.
Kappa
An Italian sportswear brand first founded in 1978, Kappa is a popular company known for selling a host of different products for a wide range of sports, including rowing, hockey, and basketball. Kappa sneakers often feature the symbol design of the logo, rather than the full wordmark.
Kappa’s combination mark includes a sans-serif wordmark, often depicted in white with a red outline on branding assets. Next to the wordmark is a silhouette image of two people sitting back-to-back, intended to showcase the accessibility and community focus of the company.
Yeezy
Created by Kanye West using his nickname “Yeezy”, this sneaker brand has soared to the highest levels of popularity over the years, particularly among fans of the rapper and singer. The Yeezy brand produces high-level shoes for both Adidas and Nike.
The Yeezy logo is a simple but eye-catching design intended to draw attention to the nickname of the famous rapper. This logo has appeared a number of times on Yeezy products. The design uses a wordmark in all capital letters, with a sans-serif font and a unique flourish on the “Z”.
Asics
Launched in 1949, Asics is a Japanese multinational company dedicated to producing a huge selection of sporting goods for a wide range of sports. The company’s name is actually an acronym for a Latin phrase, which translates roughly to “a sound mind in a sound body”.
Combining a lower-case “A” designed to look like a swirl with the name of the brand in a sans-serif font, the Asics sneaker brand logo is similar to many of the other leading symbols on this list. The design also tilts slightly to the right to depict speed and motion.
Saucony
Though perhaps a little lesser-known than some of the sneaker logos and names on this list, Saucony has emerged as an extremely popular brand in the USA, and in various other locations around the world.
The company produces a range of clothing and footwear products, including sneakers.
The Saucony symbol is an interesting design. Like many sneaker logos, we see the name of the company, written in a sans-serif font, in all lowercase. Underneath the wordmark is a geometric shape similar to a squiggle with a set of three white dots in the middle.
The overall image is unusual, but memorable.
Veja
A French footwear company which also goes by the name “Vert” in some parts of the world, Veja sneakers are a relatively new addition to the footwear landscape. The company launched in 2004, and also produces a range of bags, trainers, and even leather goods.
Better-known for producing high-quality products with the best possible materials, Veja footwear demonstrates its luxurious status with its logo. The image features the name of the brand in all capital letters, in a friendly sans-serif font, accompanied by a slightly asymmetrical “V”.
The design is modern and compact, ideal for footwear.
Salomon
Lesser-known than some companies on this footwear list, Salomon produces a wide range of shoes and athletic apparel under the Amer Sports brand. The company is best-known for its impact on the skiing world, but there are various sneakers available from this company too.
Salomon’s logo is a bold and eye-catching image with a large block “S” in white on a black background. Underneath the design is a wordmark for the company, created in sans-serif font and designed so all of the letters reach the exact same height, with no ascenders or descenders.
Common Projects
When it comes to popular sneaker brand logos, Common Projects is more likely to be familiar for die-hard collectors and fans of luxury. This company is best-known for producing expensive footwear with high-quality materials, often for celebrities and famous athletes.
The Common Projects logo is both simple and impactful. The company relies on a simple wordmark with no accompanying elements to highlight its unique personality.
All of the letters of the name are written in capitals, and everything is designed with a balanced feel to it, demonstrating stability and reliability.
Hoka One One
An athletic shoe company which first originated in France, Hoka One One designs and markets some of the world’s best running shoes. The company first gained attention in the sneaker industry by producing shoes with eye-catching oversized elements on the back.
Hoka One One has one of the more unique logos we’ve seen on our list so far. The company uses a wordmark, like many of the sneaker brands on this list, but it also leverages the image of a swooping bird flying through the “O” in the “Hoka” part of the name.
The image is great for creating ideas of freedom and exploration.
Find out more about the Hoka One One logo here.
Allbirds
A company from New Zealand known for selling a wide range of footwear and apparel, Allbirds is one of the most popular footwear companies in the world.
With its unique approach to business, the Allbirds brand has taken the world by storm, selling sneakers with luxurious, but sustainable materials.
The Allbirds brand exclusively sells products through its websites and retail stores, with absolutely no wholesaling practices. The logo for Allbirds is a simple but eye-catching sans-serif wordmark, written in a cursive font to demonstrate elegance.
The use of all lowercase letters creates a friendlier brand image.
K-Swiss
Based in Los Angeles, California, K-Swiss is an athletic shoe company created by two Swiss brothers (hence the name). The organization sells a wide range of footwear and sportswear items to suit professionals from different sporting landscapes.
One of the more colorful sneaker brand logos on our list, the K-Swiss Company uses a sans-serif wordmark in all capital letters, with a shield emblem depicted in red, white, and blue for its logo. The design is beautifully simple and patriotic, with a friendly and trustworthy appeal.
Lotto
Otherwise known as Lotto Sport Italia, Lotto is an Italian sports equipment company with a presence all over the globe. For more than 80 years, the company has delivered casual clothing, football boots, sneakers, and other items to consumers worldwide.
The lotto logo is bold and eye-catching. Like many sneaker brands, the company uses a wordmark tilting slightly to the right to depict movement and speed. This logo also includes a diamond-shape emblem created by combining two “L” characters together.
Find out more about the Lotto logo here.
Celebrating popular sneaker logos
Popular sneaker brand logos don’t just help to differentiate companies in today’s fashion and athletics landscape. These icons are also important ways for businesses to capture the hearts of their target audience and inspire brand advocacy.
When a customer falls in love with a sneaker logo, they wear it every day, actively helping to promote the brand and spread awareness for the company. It’s no wonder today’s footwear companies work so hard to produce memorable and eye-catching images for their brands.
Remember, you can learn more about some of the iconic emblems of other major companies from countless industries by browsing through the Logofile posts on the Fabrik website.
Fabrik: A branding agency for our times.
As Fabrik’s creative director, Stephen oversees complex branding programmes. He advises our clients on their tone of voice, creates logos and visual identities and crafts names for companies, products and services. Writing for Brand Fabrik Stephen reflects his love for logo design and visual identity.
