Twenty-seven brand guides to the gear of team sports and fitness.
Sports equipment brands are seen on the field and in broadcasts, so their marks need to read at a distance. These guides cover bats, balls, protective gear and fitness equipment, with who owns each name.
How to use these guides
Each guide covers who owns the name today, where the products are made — by the maker’s own account and, where it differs, by other sources — and the brand’s visual identity. A company’s description of itself is attributed to the company, and where a business has closed we say so plainly. The table at the end gathers the essentials.
Bats and balls
Spalding, Louisville Slugger, Easton, Franklin Sports, Marucci, Molten, Mikasa and Voit.
- Spalding — The sporting-goods name Albert Spalding and his brother Walter began in Chicago in 1876, maker of the National League ball from 1880, NBA game-ball supplier from 1983 to 2021, part of the Russell Corporation from 2003, and bought with Russell by Berkshire Hathaway in 2006.
- Louisville Slugger — The bat name of the Hillerich family’s Louisville woodworking shop, registered in 1894, carried by Hillerich & Bradsby from 1916, sold to Wilson Sporting Goods in 2015 while H&B kept making the wood bats and running the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory.
- Easton — The bat and ball brand that grew out of Doug Easton’s archery work in Los Angeles, made aluminium baseball bats from 1969, became Easton Sports in 1985 and Easton Diamond Sports under Bauer in 2014, and has been owned by Rawlings since 2020.
- Franklin Sports — The family-run sporting-goods brand Irving Franklin founded in Brockton, Massachusetts, in 1946, now based in Stoughton, whose batting gloves carry the Franklin name across the back of the hand and which MLB names its Official On-Field Batting Gloves.
- Marucci — The Baton Rouge baseball brand that began in 2002 when LSU athletic trainer Jack Marucci turned a bat for his son in a backyard tool shed, partnered with Kurt Ainsworth and Joe Lawrence, and was owned by Compass Diversified from 2020 and Fox Factory from 2023 before a 2026 management-led buyout.
- Molten — The Hiroshima ball and rubber-parts maker founded in November 1958 as Molten Gomu Kogyo, renamed Molten Corporation in 1983, named for the English word “melt”, and supplier of match balls to UEFA from 2018 and to Concacaf from 2024.
- Mikasa — The Hiroshima sports-ball and industrial-rubber company founded in 1917 as Hiroshima Gomu, selling balls under the Mikasa Ball mark from 1935, renamed Meisei Gomu Kogyo in 1950 and Mikasa Corporation in 2001, and known for its coloured volleyballs.
- Voit — The rubber-ball name that W. J. Voit started in Los Angeles in 1922 as a tire-retreading business, sold to AMF in 1957, made in Santa Ana until 1983, and now run by Industrias Voit in Mexico, maker of Liga MX match balls.
Hockey, football and lacrosse gear
CCM, Bauer, Sherwood, Riddell, Schutt Sports, Warrior Sports, STX and Mitre.
- CCM — The initials of Canada Cycle & Motor, formed in 1899 from four bicycle makers, which began making hockey skates by 1905, passed to Sport Maska in 1983, Reebok in 2004, Adidas, Birch Hill in 2017 and Altor in 2024, and is headquartered in Montreal.
- Bauer — The skate brand of Roy Bauer’s Canada Skate Manufacturing in Kitchener, Ontario, sold to Greb in 1965, part of Canstar, owned by Nike as Nike Bauer from 1995, sold in 2008, and since 2017 run as Bauer Hockey LLC under Peak Achievement Athletics.
- Sherwood — Sher-Wood, coined in 1949 in Sherbrooke, Quebec, from Sherbrooke Woodcraft, the hockey-stick business of Léo Paul Drolet, owned by Figgie International, bought back by the Drolets in 1994, and a Canadian Tire brand since its trademarks were bought in 2018.
- Riddell — The football equipment company founded by John Tate Riddell in 1929, named on NFL helmets under a league agreement from 1989 to the end of the 2013 season, owned by a Fenway Partners fund since 2003 and based in Des Plaines, Illinois.
- Schutt Sports — The Illinois business that began making basketball hoops in Litchfield in 1918, moved into football faceguards and, from 1987, helmets, and since December 2020 has belonged to Certor Sports, formed by Innovatus Capital Partners and based in Plainfield, Indiana.
- Warrior Sports — The Michigan lacrosse and hockey equipment company founded by David Morrow in 1992 and named for his school lacrosse team, owned by New Balance since 2004, and the “W” on Liverpool’s shirts from 2012 until New Balance took over the kit deal in 2015.
- STX — The Baltimore lacrosse, field hockey and ice hockey equipment brand founded in 1970 by Richard B.C. Tucker of Wm. T. Burnett & Co., named as a contraction of “sticks”, built on a patented synthetic lacrosse head made at a plant in Timonium from 1971.
- Mitre — The English football and rugby ball brand that began as Benjamin Crook’s Huddersfield tannery in 1817, took the Mitre name in 1949 in homage to the founder’s friendship with a local bishop, carries chevrons on its balls and is owned by the Pentland Group.
Boxing, fitness and yoga
Lonsdale, TITLE Boxing, NordicTrack, Precor, Gaiam and Manduka.
- Lonsdale — The London boxing brand that former welterweight Bernard Hart started in 1960 after the 7th Earl of Lonsdale allowed him to use the family name, and which Sports Direct, now Frasers Group, lists among its brands.
- TITLE Boxing — The boxing, kickboxing and MMA equipment company that Tony Carbajo and David Hanson, with Joe Wally, formed as TITLE Boxing LLC in Lenexa, Kansas, in June 1998, and whose name also stands over the TITLE Boxing Club fitness franchise.
- NordicTrack — The cross-country ski machine Ed and Florence Pauls began building in Chaska, Minnesota, in 1975, sold to CML Group in 1986, bought out of bankruptcy by ICON Health & Fitness in 1998 and run from Logan, Utah, by the company renamed iFIT in 2021.
- Precor — The Woodinville, Washington, equipment maker that says it was founded in 1980 and renamed Precor, for Precision Corporation, in 1983; owned by Premark, Illinois Tool Works and from 2002 Amer Sports, and since 2021 by Peloton.
- Gaiam — The name Jirka Rysavy started in Colorado in 1988 as a mail-order catalog, joining “Gaia” and “I am,” which moved into yoga through video, passed to Sequential Brands Group in 2016 and in 2021 to Galaxy Universal, which lists it among its brands.
- Manduka — The yoga brand Peter Sterios started in California in 1997 around a black mat later called the Black Mat PRO, named for the frog pose taught by his teacher Shandor Remete, which bought yogitoes in 2013 and has partnered with Valor Equity Partners since 2015.
Balls and lacrosse
Select, Baden, Tachikara, Penn and Brine.
- Select — The ball brand of Select Sport A/S of Glostrup, Denmark, dated by the company to 1947 and to the national goalkeeper Eigil Nielsen, known for its panelled footballs and handballs, with balls made in Pakistan and the German Derbystar brand inside the group.
- Baden — The family-owned ball company Baden Sports of Kent, Washington, which dates itself to 1979 and to founder E.C. Schindler and his son Michael, known for basketballs and volleyballs, official-ball agreements with school associations, and the 2015 Tribal Sports venture with the Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
- Tachikara — The Tokyo ball brand traced by the company to the Iimuro Sports Equipment Factory of 1915, renamed in 1934 after the god Amenotajikarao, known for volleyballs, NAIA and NJCAA official-ball agreements through Tachikara USA, and today run by Tachikara Holdings.
- Penn — The tennis- and racquetball-ball brand that began with the Pennsylvania Rubber Company of America in Jeannette, Pennsylvania, in 1910, passed from GenCorp to Head in 1999, and moved its ball-making from Phoenix to China in 2009.
- Brine — The US sporting-goods name founded in 1922 as the W.H. Brine Company, which moved into lacrosse sticks, was acquired by New Balance in 2006, sits beside its sister brand Warrior, and in 2021 became a women’s lacrosse brand with a new logo.
At a glance: founding, owner and base
Taken from each guide’s fact panel, as of October 2026. Ownership changes; follow the link for sources and detail.
| Brand | Founded | Owner | Base |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baden | Baden Sports, Inc., Washington State (1979) | Family-owned Baden Sports, based in Kent, Washington | Today: Family-owned Baden Sports, based in Kent, Washington |
| Bauer | Canada Skate Manufacturing, Kitchener, Ontario (1934 (Wikipedia); 1927 (Canadian Press)) | Bauer Hockey LLC, a unit of Peak Achievement Athletics | Today: Bauer Hockey LLC, a unit of Peak Achievement Athletics |
| Brine | United States (1922 (W.H. Brine Company)) | New Balance | Known for: Lacrosse sticks and equipment |
| CCM | Canada Cycle & Motor, Toronto area (1899) | CCM Hockey, Montreal; Altor majority owner since 2024 | Today: CCM Hockey, Montreal; Altor majority owner since 2024 |
| Easton | Roots: Doug Easton’s archery work, Los Angeles (1922) | Easton Diamond Sports, owned by Rawlings | Today: Easton Diamond Sports, owned by Rawlings |
| Franklin Sports | Irving Franklin, Brockton, Massachusetts (1946) | Family-run, led by the founder’s grandson Adam Franklin | Stoughton, Massachusetts |
| Gaiam | Colorado, USA (1988) | Galaxy Universal brand portfolio | Today: Galaxy Universal brand portfolio |
| Lonsdale | Beak Street, Soho, London (1960) | A Frasers Group brand | Today: A Frasers Group brand |
| Louisville Slugger | Workshop: J. F. Hillerich, Louisville, Kentucky (1855) | Brand owned by Wilson Sporting Goods; wood bats made by H&B in Louisville | Today: Brand owned by Wilson Sporting Goods; wood bats made by H&B in Louisville |
| Manduka | California, USA (1997 (company); 1998 (Valor)) | Valor Equity Partners portfolio | Today: Valor Equity Partners portfolio |
| Marucci | Jack Marucci, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (2002) | Squared Up Holdings, a management-led investor group | Today: Squared Up Holdings, a management-led investor group |
| Mikasa | Hiroshima Gomu, Hiroshima, by Masutaro Masuda (1917) | Mikasa Corporation, Asakita-ku, Hiroshima, Japan | Today: Mikasa Corporation, Asakita-ku, Hiroshima, Japan |
| Mitre | Benjamin Crook’s tannery, Huddersfield, England (1817) | Mitre Sports International, part of the Pentland Group | Today: Mitre Sports International, part of the Pentland Group |
| Molten | Molten Gomu Kogyo, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima (1958) | Molten Corporation, headquartered in Hiroshima, Japan | Today: Molten Corporation, headquartered in Hiroshima, Japan |
| NordicTrack | Chaska, Minnesota, by Edward and Florence Pauls (1975) | A brand of iFIT (ICON Health & Fitness until 2021), based in Logan, Utah | Today: A brand of iFIT (ICON Health & Fitness until 2021), based in Logan, Utah |
| Penn | Jeannette, Pennsylvania (1910 (Pennsylvania Rubber Company of America)) | Head N.V. | Today: Penn Racquet Sports, Phoenix, Arizona |
| Precor | Woodinville, Washington area; the company says 1980 (1980) | A Peloton subsidiary since 2021, presented as Precor | Peloton | Today: A Peloton subsidiary since 2021, presented as Precor | Peloton |
| Riddell | By John Tate Riddell (1929) | Majority investor Fenway Partners (since 2003) | Today: Riddell, Inc., based in Des Plaines, Illinois |
| Schutt Sports | Litchfield, Illinois, making basketball hoops (1918) | Certor Sports (since December 2020) | Today: Certor Sports, based in Plainfield, Indiana |
| Select | Select Sport A/S, Denmark (1947) | Select Sport A/S, headquartered in Glostrup near Copenhagen; Derbystar is part of the group | Today: Select Sport A/S, headquartered in Glostrup near Copenhagen; Derbystar is part of the group |
| Sherwood | Sherbrooke Woodcraft, Sherbrooke, Quebec (1949) | A brand of Canadian Tire Corporation, trademarks bought in 2018 | Today: A brand of Canadian Tire Corporation, trademarks bought in 2018 |
| Spalding | Albert Spalding and Walter Spalding, Chicago (1876) | Known for: Baseballs, basketballs and the Spalding Athletic Library | Owners: Russell Corporation from 2003; with Russell, Berkshire Hathaway from 2006 |
| STX | STX Inc., Baltimore, Maryland (1970) | STX, LLC, based in Baltimore | Today: STX, LLC, based in Baltimore |
| Tachikara | Iimuro Sports Equipment Factory, Tokyo (company account) (1915) | Tachikara Holdings Limited, Tokyo; Tachikara U.S.A., Inc. in the United States | Today: Tachikara Holdings Limited, Tokyo; Tachikara U.S.A., Inc. in the United States |
| TITLE Boxing | TITLE Boxing LLC, Lenexa, Kansas (June 1998) | Based in Lenexa, Kansas | Today: Based in Lenexa, Kansas |
| Voit | Voit Rubber, Los Angeles, by W. J. Voit (1922) | Industrias Voit S.A. de C.V., Mexico | Today: Industrias Voit S.A. de C.V., Mexico |
| Warrior Sports | By David Morrow, Michigan (1992) | New Balance (since 2004) | Today: Warrior Sports, Inc., Michigan |
See also all collections.