21 Jan Why everyone’s wearing the NASA logo
I feel like NASA shirts are popular because it makes people feel associated with something that has been doing some great work since it started. To wear NASA shirt is to almost get the feeling that you work there and maybe someday that one maybe able to walk on the moon and I mean ordinary people.
It’s the rare fashion emblem you can find everywhere.
In any big city in America you’ll likely notice people wearing NASA T-shirts, hats, and even shoes. And, the demand for NASA branded apparel is far from shrinking. The number of logo deals have been growing by the thousands.
From a marketing standpoint, very few brands are lucky enough to have broad appeal.
Our trip to the moon during the cold war seemed to create a love of the space agency brings the nation together. And, somehow it’s become campy and cool to love the logo – as if it shows how smart you are. This affinity does not, however, bring revenue to NASA.
Some of the latest sales boom can be traced back to a surprising place: American luxury fashion house Coach, which debuted a line of NASA-branded apparel in 2017.
Coach originally approached NASA to ask if it could use the “worm” logo, the retro design that the space agency used from 1975 through 1992. NASA, which had barred the use of the worm after it was retired in the 90s, changed its opinion on the matter, allowing Coach to use the logo.
And the “worm” has since returned to official use and cemented its widespread adoration, at least among diehard space fans.
After the line of Coach apparel came out, things blew up.
NASA officials and vendors say the growing demand can be traced back to the recent renewed push for education in science, technology, engineering and math. There’s also a dose of nostalgia at work.
According to those managing the NASA logo there are thousands of requests to use the logo per month. And, through a loophole use of the NASA logo is free – and NASA doesn’t make a dime off it.
It’s not typically how licensing deals work, but, because NASA is a government agency, much of its assets — including photos, logos and even technology designs — are in the public domain. If a company wants to print NASA logos on t-shirts or coffee mugs, it just has to send an email to NASA’s merchandising department, per the legal requirements.
After Coach released its line of NASA apparel, high-end designers including Heron Preston and, more recently, Balenciaga, released their own lines. Pop singer Ariana Grande had a song and an entire merchandising line about NASA. There was also Adidas, Swatch, Vans and countless others within the past decade.
Before Coach, kids were buying NASA t-shirts from vintage stores because they loved the nostalgic feel, the wistfulness of a piece of classic Americana, Hall said.
It was probably only after the “cool kids” started wearing NASA T-shirts on the streets that designer brands picked up on it and sold it back to them. Heck, even Sheldon wears it!
Gift shops at NASA facilities have also benefited. Last year, Space Center Houston — the visitor center for NASA’s Johnson Space Center — is seeing its largest sales since the center’s opening in 1992.
T-Shirts, and other apparel, which makes up as much as 48% of sales, is one of the main drivers. The center’s bestselling apparel item is a T-shirt emblazoned with a distressed version of the meatball logo that “looks weathered,”.