What is Kobe’s Logo?
What is Kobe’s Logo? Kobe had 3 distinct logos during his career. These can clearly mark out the different branding phases he went through. The side profile of his distinctive head become known as “The Frobe” and marks his time signed to Adidas. The second known as “The Sheath” is still used on much of his Basketball merchandise today and marks his relationship with Nike. The final is known as “The Hourglass” and denotes his move into business after his retirement.
Most people think branding is only for businesses. This is not true! Athletes have achieved fame and fortune with good branding too. You don’t need to be a basketball fan to know Michael Jordan’s Jumpman logo. The logo is the force behind the legacies of brilliant talents and businesses. These logos increase the fame and fortunes of the athletes just like any other businessman.
One of those star athletes who was known for his logos was Kobe Bryant. Before his tragic passing in January 2020, Kobe Bryant was one of the most recognizable professional athletes in the world. At his peak, Bryant was so famous that fans from all around the world could recognize him.
The connection of athletes and their logos started in 1984 when Nike wanted to sign a young and promising basketball star and they couldn’t be luckier. The rookie Michael Jordan was taking over the league and three decades later he is still the biggest sports brand in the world.
Michael Jordan was the first player to have his own signature shoes. In the beginning, the shoes were marked with the Nike regular “Swoosh” logo but later they evolved to a brand new Air Jordan brand with the famous Jumpman logo.
The greatest stars of the 1980s such as Magic Johnson or Larry Bird didn’t get their own signature shoes but the next generation in the 1990s got their deals mainly because of Jordan’s success. Shaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, and Grant Hill were just a few of them, with Kobe Bryant being the next in line.
Kobe Logo Adidas
Kobe entered the league as the 13th pick of the 1996 NBA draft still being only 17-year-old but Adidas already recognized his potential and signed him to a deal. Things couldn’t start better as the Lakers traded for him at the draft night and Kobe stayed loyal to the team for the next 20 years bringing five championships to the ‘City of Angels’.
The first logo Kobe got from Adidas was called ‘Frobo’ showing a silhouette of a young Kobe rocking an afro.
Although Kobe didn’t stay with Adidas very long, this was the first of many logos that Kobe was associated with. While he and Michael Jordan have their similarities, one big difference between the two is the consistency of the logos the two great NBA stars used.
Bryant accomplished a career’s worth of achievements while with Adidas. He made five All-Star teams and four All-NBA teams. He created a dynasty with the help of coach Phil Jackson and all-world center Shaquille O’Neal, winning three straight NBA titles from 2000 to 2002. He also became one of the best players in the game while wearing his signature Adidas sneakers.
Kobe Logo Nike
Kobe stayed with Adidas until his contract expired in 2003. He then signed a deal with Nike which lasted to his final day despite the rough start.
Immediately after Kobe signed with Nike, his name was all over the news with a rape allegation that took him all the way to court. Even though most of Kobe’s sponsors dropped him, Nike stuck around and over the next 15 years, they built a footwear empire together.
At the time, Kobe was succeeding on the court while coming apart at the seams personally.
As a result, he said he needed to compartmentalize his life. “I went from a person who was at the top of his game, had everything coming,” Bryant said in the documentary Muse, “to a year later, having absolutely no idea where life is going or if you are even going to be a part of life as we all know it.”
That’s when the ‘Mamba mentality was born.
Kobe began hearing the whispers of the public while he was playing and needed to figure out how to tune everything out while he was on the court.
“I had to separate myself,” Kobe explains. “It felt like there were so many things coming at once. It was just becoming very, very confusing. I had to organize things. So I created The Black Mamba.”
Kobe was watching the movie Kill Bill Vol. 1 when he heard the name and liked it. After doing some research, Bryant realized the name fit him well during this time in his life. But the nickname changed Kobe. After his personal issues in 2003, he was a man and no longer the wholesome kid playing a game he loved.
Nike took this persona and ran with it, making it the focal point of Kobe’s sneakers as well. Which led to his second logo, ‘The Sheath’. This logo draws parallels to the sword logo on Beatrix Kiddo’s samurai sword from Kill Bill Vol. 1. Kobe said that the sword represents raw talent. The sheath is what a sword is kept in, protecting it from personal baggage and challenges.
‘The Sheath’ has represented Kobe as a basketball player ever since and was first put on the Nike Huarache 2k5 shoe. The logo replaced the traditional Nike ‘swoosh’, and can be found on all of his sneakers ever since.
Business Kobe Logo
Retirement from basketball didn’t slow Kobe down. Upon leaving the NBA, he jumped head-first into the worlds of entertainment and business, reinventing himself for the third time. As a result, he needed a new logo—and from that, the Hourglass was born.
The symbol does look like the number 8, which was Kobe’s jersey number until 2006. Bryant was well on his way to becoming an entertainment and business titan at the time of its appearance. He had a stake in Body Armor, while his production studio had helped him win an Academy Award.
It is unfortunate that we will never see everything Kobe had to offer in the business world but his speeches posted on YouTube are still a great thing to hear.
Kobe and Kill Bill
I came across an interesting fact about Kobe’s Sheath Logo during a 2007 blog post. A comparison can be drawn between Kobe’s sheath design and the logo on the hilt of Beatrix Kiddo’s sword. The following background was provided by Kobe in Esquire around the same time regarding the Sheath Logo:
The Sheath represents Kobe’s logo, and you will hear more about it in the coming years. It is designed to look like the sheath of a samurai’s sword. It is a metaphor for Kobe’s raw talent. “Everything you do, all of your calluses, all of your baggage, and everything you learn, goes into the sheath.”
The same principles are evident in his logo and in samurai culture. However, the real kicker is this: Beatrix Kiddo’s codename in the films was… “Black Mamba”
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