Tuesday 31 August 2010

Nike, Hackney and Alec Davis

The Hackney logo on sports and fashion items. From Hackney local government website.
A couple of years ago I was phoned by someone on behalf of Hackney council in North London, wanting to know the role of my father, Alec Davis, in the design of the borough’s logo in the mid-1960s.

It turned out that Nike had borrowed the logo for use on their Hackney Marshes brand worldwide without asking permission. In the end Nike did the decent thing and paid Hackney £300,000, to go towards the development of the borough sports facilities.

Hackney’s report: History of Hackney’s logo. It includes a short interview with me and a photo of Dad and me that I provided:
Alec Davis with Stephen in 1965 when Hackney’s logo was designed.
Guardian article: Nike scores own goal on Hackney Marshes.

BBC: Hackney wins logo row with Nike.