Ariat is a shoe and clothes-making company with an international presence. They mainly design shoes inspired by equestrian sports, but not necessarily for riding. Their shoes and wear are renowned for quality, style, and practicality for both men and women.
Meaning and History
The business took off in the early 90s, which is making it quite young compared to competitors. Two visionary designers and businesswomen stood behind its inception – Beth Cross and Pam Parker. They developed brand-new shoes for males and females based on a cutting-edge technology called ‘Duratread’, which increases the durability and safety of the footwear.
The use of this technology has much to do with their success. The sales of the Ariat-branded shoes skyrocketed, and by 2004 they had been big enough to provide their footwear to professional athletes. In that same year, Ariat began manufacturing their clothing collections.
Throughout their history, they have changed the logotype twice, in 2005 and 2015. All three versions depict similar compositions of several horseshoes united into one symbol. Why horses? It has to do with the same purpose of equestrian and Ariat-branded shoes and clothes – to ensure the safety, style, and smoothness of wearers during races, walkings, etc. Additionally, the equestrian style was chosen for the design of their products in the beginning.
What is Ariat?
Ariat is a marque of shoes and clothes for men and women designed in equestrian style. The brand started in the 1990s, and since then has garnered a worldwide reputation for the exceptional quality and durability of the shoes and wears.
1993 – 2005
The earliest logotype features a triangular shield with rounded edges. It has a brown inner part and a black frame. The imagery housed inside it depicts three horseshoes turned on different sides but united into one mysterious symbol. The way in which the shapes combine creates four empty spaces that resemble triangles. The largest one is in the center. The nameplate rests above, written in angular sans-serif capital letters of a decorative typeface.
2005 – 2015
The 2005 iteration depicts a refreshed composition. Instead of the name caption above the shield as before, this version features the familiar shield placed to the left of the inscription. The latter retained the font but received other proportions. The crest has received a gradient effect from beige to deep brown. The frame is also redrawn to give the entire shield a 3D effect.
2015 – today
The 2015 version is very similar to the previous iterations. The key modification is that it’s been rendered in black and white.
Color
The image is monochromatic, consisting of stark black text on a clean, white background. However, previously, the brand artists added brown to the composition to align its visual perception with the equestrian aesthetic.
