13 Top Sports Equipment Companies Globally

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There are numerous top sports equipment companies all over the world. And over the year, the sporting equipment business has seen massive growth. So naturally, there is an enormous demand for sporting equipment.

Many companies around the world produce and sell sports gear. Moreover, with the boarding scope of various sporting activities, equipment is constantly needed to meet the demand.

Badminton_grass_racket_shuttlecocks
Badminton racket shuttle cocks (Source: Pxhere)

There are many big sporting equipment companies whose products are considered top-class. Pro athletes and sports clubs even use their top-class products.

Today we bring you the list of the top sports equipment companies in the world. Moreover, this list has some of the biggest companies like Nike and Adidas to sport-specified companies.

So, let’s look at the list of the top equipment companies worldwide without further delay.

13 Top Sports Equipment Companies Globally

We have prepared this list to reference with the various trusted sources around the internet like Ranker.com. So, let us take a quick peek at the take before diving into the full details of the list.

Company Country
13. Brine USA
12. Bauer Hockey USA
11. Black Diamond USA
10. Babolat France
9. Avery Dennison USA
8. Athleta USA
7. ASICS Japan
6. Aqua Lung / La Spirotechnique  France
5. Apeks England
4. AND1 USA
3. Amer Sports Finland
2. Adidas Germany
1. Nike USA

13. Brine

We will kick start our list of top sports equipment companies with the company named Brine. W.H. Bine established the company in 1922 as the W.H. Brine Company.

The company is based in Milford, Massachusetts, USA. Initially, the Brine family privately owned the company. However, on August 4, 2006, New Balance acquired this company.

Brine_Lacrosse_gloves
Brine Lacrosse gloves (Source: Wikimedia)

When the company first started, it produced small sports equipment and uniform. Then, they quickly grew to manufacture lacrosse and soccer equipment. Moreover, Brine became the first to cover the soccer ball with synthetic leather.

Brine presently manufactures lacrosse, soccer, field hockey, and volleyball equipment. Similarly, the company also manufactures footwear and apparel.

12. Bauer Hockey

The Bauer family established The Bauer Hockey company in 1927 in Kitchener, Ontario, USA.

Moreover, Bauer manufactures ice hockey equipment, fitness, recreational skates, and apparel. The company’s top line was initially marketed and traded under “Bauer Supreme.”

Then in 1994, Bauer started producing the perforated TUUK chassis. The piece of equipment connects the steel blade to the actual boot of the skate.

Bauer-hockey-footwear
Bauer hockey footwear (Source: Instagram)

Presently, Bauer produces helmets, sticks, gloves, shin guards, skates, shoulder pads, elbow pads, hockey jocks, compression underwear, etc. Moreover, its gears, such as the ice hockey skates, are approved for use in the sport of ringette.

In 1994, the parent company of Bauer, Canstar, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nike. As a result, the company’s product was rebranded as Nike Buer in 2006.

11. Black Diamond

The Black Diamond is an American-based public company. The company got founded on December 1, 1989, and the Clarus Corporation company owns it. 

His pistons quickly became famous for their quality, and the Chouinard Equipment Company was born. 

BlackDiamond-Chruch-Street-Burlington
Black Diamond store in Chruch Street, Burlington (Source: Instagram)

Then a former group of employees purchased the Chouinard company, and Black Diamond got founded. Additionally, in 1996, Black Diamond Equipment Europe was established in Switzerland.

After this, the company’s goods became available worldwide. The company manufactures and designs climbing, skiing, and mountain sports products. 

10. Babolat

We have a French sports equipment company next on our list. The company is one of the oldest sports companies which manufactures tennis, badminton, and padel gears.

Pierre Babolat started the venture as a family business in 1875. The company began and became successful for the racquet strings made of gut. Gradually, it became one of the top companies in racquet-sports tools.

In the 1950s, tennis as a sport had seen growth globally. Paul Babolat being aware of this, built an international retail network for his products that became an instant hit.

Babolat_Contest_Pro_tennis_racquet
Babolat Contest Pro tennis racquet (Source: Wikimedia.org)

Similarly, the popularity of Babolat continued to grow, and the company continued to focus on strings until 1994. After that, the company became a tennis company and started making racquet frames.

Moreover, the company is also a pioneer in connected sports technology. Similarly, in 2015, the company launched a connected wrist-worn tennis wearable with PIQ.

9. Avery Dennison

 

Founded in 1990, Avery Dennison is a multinational public manufacturer of sports supplies. It is an American-based company that is also a Fortune 500.

The company was first founded in 1935 as Kum Kleen Products. Mr. and Mrs. Ray Staton Avery were the joint partners of the company. Later in 1937, the company was renamed Avery Adhesive.

During the years to follow, the company’s name changed a few times before finally, in 1990, it was renamed Avery Dennison. However, Avery Dennison has the history, brand, log, and full name.

Avery-Dennison-sports-apprael
Avery Dennison sports apparel (Source: Instagram)

The company manufactures and distributes pressure-sensitive gluey materials, apparel, and branding labels. Similarly, it also produces RFID inlays and specialty medical products.

The Pressure-Sensitive Material segment, the Retail Branding, Information Solutions segment, and information management products.

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8. Athleta

Athleta is a women’s activewear brand that was first founded in 1998. This is a famous brand manufacturing comfortable wear for women and empowering women.

In recent years, activewear companies have only started to tailor for women. Moreover, the masculine styles and painful cuts made the women feel constrained.

Scott Kerslake was a cyclist, surfer, and former investment banker. He used to cycle with women and observed the uncomfortableness women faced while cycling. Then, Kerslake came up with an idea to create a women-focused clothing business. 

Athleta-products
Athleta products (Source: Instagram)

He decided to design activewear in which women could work out and participate in sports with comfort and style. As a result, he founded the Atheta brand, which focuses on women’s activewear.

The brand also focuses on empowering women and creating comfortable activewear for women. The brand has the empowering message “The Power of She.”

In 2008, Athleta was purchased by Gap for $150 million. Then in 2016, a campaign, “Power of She,” was started, further building the brand’s value and history of women empowerment.

7. ASICS

Next, we have a Japanese multinational corporation, ASICS. The company was first founded in 1949 as Onitsuka Tiger. 

Kihachiro Onitsuka was the company’s founder with the objective of manufacturing basketball shoes in his hometown Kobe. The company’s sportswear later developed into a variety of Olympic styles.

ASICS-shoes
ASICS shoes (Source: Wikimedia)

In 1977, Onitsuka Tiger merged with GTO and JELENK to form ASCIS Corporation. Although the name has changed, the vintage range of the ASICS shoes is still produced and sold internationally under the Onitsuka Tiger.

Although ASICS’s footwear is famous worldwide, the company also manufactures and markets clothing like hoodies, compression garments, and additions like backpacks, bags, etc.

6. Aqua Lung / La Spirotechnique

We have a French company on number 6 of our top sports supplies companies. Aqua Lung, formerly known as the La Spirotechnique, is a company that makes scuba, self-contained breathing devices, and other diving gears.

Jacques-Yves Cousteau, a ship-of-the-Line Lieutenant, and Émile Gagnan, who was an engineer, founded the company in 1942.

In 1943, Cousteau and Gagnan ordered Air Liquide to make two scuba set prototypes at its factory in Boulogne-Billancourt. They used those prototypes to shoot the underwater film Épaves (Shipwrecks) the same year.

The two sets of prototypes were the first modern diving regulators. Later the same year, both founders patented the first current diving regulator.

Aqualung_Slingshot-fins
Aqualung Slingshot fins (Source: Wikimedia)

In 1946, Air Liquide founded La Spirotechnique to conceive and mass-produce the regulators and other diving gears. La Spirotechnique launched the first commercialized modern regulator the same year, the CG45.

Similarly, in 1955, the company launched a single-stage regulator, the Mistral. Compared to the CG45, this regulator was cheaper to build and easier to breathe. Additionally, the launch of Mistral helped to establish scuba diving all across the world.

The company was Air Liquide’s division until 2016. Then in 2016, Air Liquide sold the company to Montagu Private Equity.

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5. Apeks

Apeks Marine Equipment Ltd. is another company well-known for manufacturing scuba diving equipment. The company is based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England.

Ken Ainscough and Eric Partington founded the company, with their names being the anagram for Apeks, in 1974.

The founders started their company from a small garage in the north of England. Although they worked from a garage, their equipment soon gained popularity.

Apeks_sidemount_harness
Apeks side-mount harness (Source: Wikimedia)

In some of the most changeling diving environments, Apeks gears are used. Besides, the company’s products are one of the best, with highly dependable performance.

Many professional and tech drivers use Apeks equipment. Moreover, the products are reliable and comfortable but also environmentally sustainable. The raw materials used and manufacturing methods are all ecologically aware.

Aqua Lung acquired the company in 1997.

4. AND1

As a graduate school project partnership, Seth Berger, Jay Coen Gilbert, and Tom Austin founded the company in 1993. They derived the company name from a phrase used by the basketball hosts.

The company’s first venture was selling basketball slogans and trash talk T-shirts. However, the T-shirts became so famous that within the second year of their launch, the T-shirts reached 1,500 stores across America.

And1_basketball_shoes
AND1 basketball shoes (Source: Wikimedia)

NBA star Stephon Marbury became the first spokesman for the company in mid-1996. After that, AND1 launched its first pair of basketball sneakers. After signing Marbury, the company drafted more NBA players for their product promotion.

The company’s promotional plan was successful. By the 2001 season, the company had become second to Nike in market share among NBA endorsees. In addition, it became the second-largest basketball brand in the USA.

AND1 has changed hands a few times over the year. American Sporting Goods, Brown Shoes Company, and Galaxy Brands bought and sold the company.

After that, the company later joined Sequential Brands Group, a publicly-traded brand managing company.

3. Amer Sports

On our, number 3 is the Amer Sports. It is a Finnish sporting goods company founded in 1950.

The company was established as a multi-industry company to diversify tobacco trading, ship owners, and publishing. In 1986, the company launched a sports division after acquiring a majority stake in golf supplies.

Then in 1974, the Amer bought the hockey gear maker and started to launch into the sports supplies markets. Similarly, three years later, the company received a leading producer of golf clubs, racquets, and other sporting supplies, Wison Sporting Goods Company.

Amer-Sports-equipments
Amer Sports brand Salomon equipment (Source: Instagram)

Slowly, the company evolved into an international firm that produces and markets sporting goods. However, the company kept its initial tobacco trade until 2004.

Over the years, Amer obtained Austrian ski manufacturer Atomic, Finnish sports tool maker Sunnto, and American baseball and softball firm Demarini. Similarly, the company obtained the outdoor sports company, Salomon, from Adidas.

The company includes Arc’teryx, Peak, Precor, Armada, ENVE Composites, Louisville Slugger, DeMarini, and Sports Tracker. Amer Sports is an associate of Anta Sports.

2. Adidas

On our number 2 is a German multinational firm, Adidas. The company was founded in 1924 and designs and manufactures shoes, clothing, and accessories.

Adolf “Adi” Dassler founded the company. After returning from World War I, he made sports shoes in his mother’s laundry room. Later in 1924, his brother Rudolf joined his business with “Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory.”

The Dassler helped in developing sharp running shoes for numerous athletic events. They traded heavy metal spikes for canvas and rubber to improve the quality.

As a result, the popularity of the shoes soared after U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens wore the boots in the 1936 Summer Olympics. Owens won four gold medals, and the stature of Dassler shoes zoomed.

Adidas-Football
Adidas Football (Source: Wikimedia)

Unfortunately, the brothers split, and Adolf formed the company and formally registered it as Adidas AG from Adi Dassler. The company’s first apparel was the Franz Beckenbauer tracksuit, made in 1967.

Likewise, Adidas manufactures and designs other sportswear like baseball, basketball, cricket, golf, etc. However, Adidas has always focused on football kits.

Adidas is a major company that supplies team kits for international football teams and clubs. In addition, it is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe.

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1. Nike

The number 1 top sports equipment company is Nike, Inc. Blue Ribbon Sports, Inc was founded as an American multinational corporation in 1964.

University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman established this company and later changed its name to Nike in 1971.

Initially, the company served as a distributor for the Japanese shoe brand Onitsuka Tiger. Unfortunately, this relationship with the brand ended in 1971. However, by 1980, Nike had attained a 50% market share in U.S. athletic shoe market.

Nike-snowboard
Nike snowboard (Source: Instagram)

Nike is one of the biggest companies creating, devising, producing, and worldwide marketing and selling footwear, attire, supplies, additions, and services. Besides, it has a brand of “Just Do It” and the Swoosh logo.

The company invests in many high-profile athletes and sports teams worldwide. In addition, Nike has aids like Jordan Brand and Converse. It also markets its products under its brand.

The company is the largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel globally. It is also the direct producer of sports supplies.

Conclusion

As the scope of sporting activities is enlarging, so is the need for sports supplies. These equipment firms supply them worldwide.

Moreover, some of these firms have a long-standing record. These firms design and manufactures top-quality products all around the world.

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Boby Rai
Boby Raihttps://playersbio.com/

Boby Rai

Boby Rai is a dedicated writer who specializes in capturing the essence of sporting excellence through his unique lens. As the creative mind behind numerous sports-centric projects, he brings a fresh perspective to the world of athletics, blending insightful commentary with captivating narratives.

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