{"id":26069,"date":"2024-10-22T13:51:12","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T11:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/?p=26069"},"modified":"2024-10-23T09:35:51","modified_gmt":"2024-10-23T07:35:51","slug":"probably-familiar-brands-origin-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/probably-familiar-brands-origin-names\/","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019re probably familiar with these brands, do you know the origin of their names?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brands typically have an easily identifiable origin, a point in history where they emerge, and their name appears as a definitive solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stories that are sometimes told and other times hidden<\/strong>. However, brands also have another life, given to them by the consumers themselves, who transform some of these stories into almost mythical creations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s review some of the brands in FOOTDISTRICT’s catalog<\/strong><\/a>, the origin of their names, and interesting facts about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brands Named After Their Founders<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Naming a brand after its founder may seem like the simplest solution, but it\u2019s not always the case. Brands with the names of their founders<\/strong> often come from times when commercial registrations weren\u2019t as complicated, such as BIRKENSTOCK<\/a> (founded in 1774 by Johann Adam Birkenstock), Levi\u2019s (1853 by Levi Strauss), Converse<\/a> (1908 by Marquis Mills Converse), or Stanley (1843 by Frederick Trent Stanley).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: BIRKENSTOCK<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

More modern examples include Fred Perry<\/a>, Lacoste<\/a>, or Ralph Lauren<\/a>. Less well-known are the names of the founders of Taschen<\/a> (Benedikt Taschen) or Salomon<\/a> (George Salomon). Can we include Dr. Martens? Almost. The creator of the brand was Dr. Klaus Maertens<\/a>, but the brand’s distributors in the UK modified the name to make it sound more British.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brands with Family Names<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In some cases, the founders didn\u2019t act alone but were assisted by family members. This is the case with brothers Rizo<\/strong> and Rihachi Mizuno<\/strong> (the brand’s original name was Mizuno Brothers Ltd<\/a>). Clarks was also, for a long time, the brand of two brothers, Cyrus and James Clark, which is why they chose the plural of their surname.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: Mizuno<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Williamson-Dickie Mfg. Co.<\/strong> was created by two cousins, C. N. Williamson and E. E. “Colonel” Dickie, though over time it became known simply as Dickies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Names Derived from Acronyms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s well known that ASICS<\/a> was founded under the name of its founder, Kihachiro Onitsuka<\/strong>, but it changed in the 1970s to become the initials of a quote by Juvenal, Anima Sana In Corpore Sano<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although not directly an acronym, adidas<\/a> also drew from the first syllables of its founder\u2019s name, Adi Dassler<\/strong>. In fact, their first registration attempt was “addas<\/strong>,” which was rejected by the trademark office because there was already a similar brand. The original name of Puma<\/a> was Ruda, derived from the first syllables of Rudolf Dassler’s name<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: adidas<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

More directly, Jean Touitou chose A.P.C.<\/a> as the initials for Atelier de Production et de Cr\u00e9ation<\/strong>. The initials of C.P. Company came about due to a legal issue<\/a>; the original name was Chester Perry<\/strong>, which was too similar to Chester Barrie and Fred Perry, both already registered brands. Between acronyms and family names is Diemme<\/a>, created by brothers Dennis and Maico Signor (the initials of their names form the brand).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brands That Seem to Come from a Place (But Don\u2019t)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The elegance of France has attracted many brands that come from other places. Despite its French name, Comme Des Gar\u00e7ons<\/a> is the creation of Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo<\/strong>. Its first collections and store emerged in Japan, although it later established a strong connection with Paris. In a similar case, Kenzo<\/a> added “Paris” to its name because the brand was born in France, but its creator, Kenzo Takada<\/strong>, developed part of his education in Japan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\u00e9t<\/a> also sounds French, but it was created by Danish designers Jeppe<\/strong> and Jesper<\/strong>, inspired by French forests. Gramicci sounds Italian because the brand’s founder, Mike Graham, enjoyed adding an exotic touch to his climbing experiences and pretended to be Italian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geographically Inspired Brands<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It seems logical that brands more related to the outdoors have names linked to geographic elements. Sebago<\/a> is named after a lake in Maine<\/strong>, which explains the popularity of its boat shoes. Saucony<\/a> took its name from a stream (now called Sacony) that also inspired its logo. Patagonia<\/a> was the region where Yvon Chouinard<\/strong>, the founder of the brand, arrived on a trip from California. Interestingly, Douglas Tompkins<\/strong>, founder of The North Face<\/a>, accompanied him on that trip, using the more challenging side of winter climbs and the Half Dome mountain for his logo.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: Sebago<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Timberland<\/a> was originally called Abington Shoe Company<\/strong> but adopted a name in the 1970s that identified it with its style, the land of wood<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brand Names Related to Art<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Loris Messina<\/strong> and Simone Rizzo<\/strong> found the perfect name in SUNNEI<\/a>. The inspiration came while listening to “Sunny,” the song by Stevie Wonder. Brain Dead<\/a> is named after a 1992 Peter Jackson movie, and Stone Island<\/a> used the two words most frequently found in Joseph Conrad’s novels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brand Names Related to Animals<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Crocs shoes<\/a> are perfect for amphibious use, in both dry and wet terrains, so associating them with a crocodile seemed like a good idea. Long before that, in 1895, J.W. Foster and Sons<\/strong> was born, which in 1958 rebirthed as Reebok<\/a>, taking the name of a fast South African antelope called Rhebok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brand Names Related to Gods<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nike was almost called Dimension Six<\/strong>, but a last-minute dream featuring the winged goddess of victory transformed it into Nike. It made sense for a brand seeking peak athletic performance.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: Encyclopedia Britannica<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Among brands related to deities, DEV\u00c1 STATES<\/a> plays with words; dev\u00e1 are the benevolent deities in Hinduism and Buddhism, but “devastate” leads you to a very different context. The origin of Evisu<\/a> is shrouded in legends, but the official information speaks of a tribute to Ebisu, the Japanese god of fortune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family names, geographic accidents, artistic inspirations\u2014each brand has a story associated with its name. Remember that you can find the latest offerings from all these brands at FOOTDISTRICT<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brands typically have an easily identifiable origin, a point in history where they emerge, and their name appears as a definitive solution.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"powerkit_post_featured":[4,7,5,6,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-26069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26069"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26109,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26069\/revisions\/26109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26069"},{"taxonomy":"powerkit_post_featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.footdistrict.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/powerkit_post_featured?post=26069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}