Mares is the Rapallo brand (reportedly founded 1949 by Ludovico Mares) that HEAD has owned since the 1970s and combined into HTM Sport in 1989 — now beside Aqua Lung and Apeks under one parent.

Mares follows Apeks as the round’s third HEAD node — the Italian full-line dive brand that HEAD has held for decades, and that as of 2025 sits beside the two brands before it under the same parent. Its answer to a round about who owns the dive gear is the division: the Italian dive division of HEAD.

Its identity is the Italian dive division of HEAD. The Rapallo origin, the HEAD ownership and the HTM history are the story here. The dive division. The Italian dive division of HEAD.

(Honest notes, so the origin, the ownership and the making are framed accurately. Mares sells regulators and dive gear as its heroes; we report its language as the brand’s own. On origin: Mares is reported to have been founded in 1949 in Rapallo, Italy, by Ludovico Mares, and since the founding year, city and founder are reported rather than firmly documented in the sources we could reach, we present them as reported; Mares’ own site references Ludovico Mares’ passion for the sea. On ownership: Mares is owned by HEAD, which acquired it in the 1970s, and in 1989 Head, Tyrolia and Mares were combined as HTM, or HTM Sport; today Mares is HEAD’s diving division, listed under HEAD Group Brands, so with the reported June 2025 Aqualung acquisition it sits beside Aqua Lung and Apeks under HEAD. On the products: full-line scuba, including regulators, buoyancy compensators, dive computers, masks and fins, plus freediving, spearfishing and snorkelling. On the making: a made-in-Italy claim is the company’s own, which we attribute. On a trap: the founder Ludovico Mares is not Antonio Meucci, and the word mares also means female horses. Its designs and the Mares name are IP we describe but do not reproduce; there is no official brand hex; these tones are an unofficial interpretation.)

Mares lives in a Mares graphite. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

Mares’ identity is Italian, full-line and HEAD-owned — a Mares graphite, an ink, a pale steel, a deep slate, and a paper. The palette leans Mares graphite and deep slate: a clean, workmanlike register that stands in for a full-line dive division rather than a loud logo colour. It signals the Italian dive division of HEAD — Italian, full-line and HEAD-owned. The honest caveat: with no official brand hex, these values are a workmanlike, unofficial interpretation, not first-party colours.

The lesson is a Mares graphite signals an Italian, HEAD-owned identity. Mares’ world is the regulator and the full dive kit. For designers, it is a reminder that a clean graphite and a pale steel can carry an Italian, HEAD-owned brand — a workmanlike tone held as an accent, not a product shot. Because a dark hue can flatten small text, keep type dark and even and let the colour live in the accents, palette and band. The takeaways: place the origin in Rapallo and mark the founding as reported; name HEAD and the HTM history; note that it now sits beside Aqua Lung and Apeks under HEAD; and attribute the Italian making.

The register is a division sans — Italian, full-line, HEAD-owned.

Mares’ identity carries an Italian, full-line spirit — a dive division. A division sans captures the mood: clean, considered and modern, the register of a full-range brand. Set in a Mares-graphite palette, the division sans feels current and dependable — exactly the personality Mares carries. It behaves like a made, kitted thing rather than a loud logo, mirroring a bubble-dot and a fin-band. (Mares’ real products and the name are things we describe but do not reproduce, and the exact typeface is not ours to use.) Because it is not ours to use, the honest description is “a division-sans brand,” shown here in a stand-in. The type behaves like the brand: Italian, full-line and HEAD-owned.

Mares stands for the Italian dive division of HEAD.

Mares sits fourth in the round as its third HEAD node. A Mares-graphite palette, a division sans and a Rapallo origin make one thing — the Italian dive division of HEAD — the whole identity: Italian, full-line and HEAD-owned. The Rapallo origin is the pitch, the HEAD ownership is the frame, and the HTM history is the substance. The point is a long-held Italian division that, as of 2025, shares a parent with Aqua Lung and Apeks, in a round about who owns the dive gear.

Put to work, the identity is the brand told straight, the founding marked reported and the parent named. A brand in this spirit would place the origin in Rapallo and mark the founding as reported, name HEAD and the HTM history, note that it now sits beside Aqua Lung and Apeks under HEAD, and attribute the Italian making. A reader in this spirit would keep the facts right: Mares makes full-line dive gear; it is reportedly from 1949 in Rapallo; HEAD has owned it since the 1970s; and it is HEAD’s dive division. Mares sits after Apeks and before Cressi. The honest editorial moves are to mark the founding reported, to name HEAD, to note the shared parent, and to attribute the making.

For designers and brand-builders, Mares carries the scuba node: the third brand under one parent completes the consolidation. The lessons: a category’s big brands can gather under one owner, here Mares beside Aqua Lung and Apeks under HEAD; an origin is placed and hedged, reportedly 1949 in Rapallo, Italy, by Ludovico Mares, with the founding specifics marked reported; an ownership is named, that HEAD acquired Mares in the 1970s and combined Head, Tyrolia and Mares as HTM in 1989, so Mares is HEAD’s diving division; a consolidation is noted, that with the reported June 2025 Aqualung acquisition, three of this round’s brands sit under HEAD; products are named, full-line scuba plus freediving and spearfishing; and a making is attributed, a made-in-Italy claim as the company’s own. It is also a reminder to stay precise: Mares is the HEAD-owned Italian dive division of the regulator aisle — with the palette here an unofficial interpretation, and Ludovico Mares kept distinct from Antonio Meucci. The hook is that division: Mares is the Italian dive division of HEAD, the Rapallo brand reportedly founded 1949 by Ludovico Mares, that HEAD has owned since the 1970s and combined into HTM Sport in 1989, now beside Aqua Lung and Apeks under one parent. Read that way, Mares is less a single regulator than the Italian dive division of HEAD: Italian, full-line, HEAD-owned. The lesson for a brand is that the third brand under one parent completes the consolidation, and placing the origin keeps it earned. Mares made the-Italian-dive-division-of-HEAD the identity — proof that a division can anchor a node.

Keep Mares’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.