Old Navy Logo PNG
At a fashion retailer, the Old Navy logo conveys the color of water, linking it to the name. The smooth oval and even letters create a unique balance between the two elements, forming the basis of the fashion brand’s concept. It also reflects the availability of goods, so the emblem has no exquisite monogram, only clear, ordinary printed glyphs.
Old Navy began as Gap Inc.’s answer to a competitive threat in the early 1990s. Fashion brands pressured Gap from above, and cheaper retailers pressured it from below. The key trigger was Dayton-Hudson Corporation, Target’s parent company, which was preparing a discount clothing concept called Everyday Hero.
Gap president Millard “Mickey” Drexler had already rebuilt Gap after joining in 1983. For the new format, he used a name he had noticed years earlier on a Paris bar sign: Old Navy. In August 1993, Gap Inc. began converting some stores into Gap Warehouse, selling simpler clothes at lower prices, including $22 jeans and $7 T-shirts.
On March 11, 1994, Gap Warehouse became Old Navy Clothing Co. The first store built fully around the concept opened in Colma, California. By the end of 1994, the chain had 59 locations. Its stores featured concrete floors, exposed pipes, and chrome racks, making them feel more like supermarkets than traditional apparel shops. H&M was another affordable player, but its U.S. presence was still limited.
In 1997, Old Navy used TV ads with retro celebrities such as Morgan Fairchild and the Smothers Brothers. That year, it became the first retail brand to reach $1 billion in annual sales in under four years. By 2001, it had more than 500 stores, about $3.4 billion in revenue, and its first Canadian locations. Gap Inc. planned to spin off Old Navy in 2018, but canceled the move in January 2020, keeping it inside the group as its largest brand by revenue.
Meaning and History
As Old Navy’s identity evolved, the brand logos remained similar but differed in several ways. They share the same lettering and color scheme: white and dark blue. The differences lie in details such as the letter shapes
What is Old Navy?
Old Navy is one of the largest fashion retailers, offering affordable clothing and accessories in multiple countries. The company was founded in 1994, and it opened its first stores in the United States. Today, it is one of Gap, Inc.’s six divisions.
1994 – 1998
The first Old Navy logo featured a blue ellipse with a thin red outline. Inside it, the brand name appeared in white capital glyphs. The brand name used a serif font. The inscription was indistinct, with partially erased lines.
1998 – 2005
After a slight adjustment in 1998, the phrase “OLD NAVY” became easier to read. The designers changed the typeface to favor a bold sans-serif with narrow letter spacing. At the same time, they removed the red outline along the ellipse’s edge, making the logo two-color: white and blue.
2005 – 2009
After another redesign, the oval base disappeared. To keep the inscription from getting lost on a white background, the developers made it dark blue. At the same time, the letters, previously elongated vertically, became more balanced because their width and height were equal. The only imperfection was at the end of the word “NAVY,” where the “V” and “Y” joined at the top.
2009 – today
In 2009, a logo very similar to the one introduced in 1998 began to be used. It features the white lettering “OLD NAVY” against a dark blue ellipse, but the font has been slightly adjusted to balance the letters and spacing.
Font and Colors
The brand name inside a horizontal oval is the basic element of the Old Navy identity. This bold, memorable logo combines the softness of rounded baselines with the roughness of bold, rectangular glyphs. The same contrast is evident in the colors, as the white lettering is formed by negative space on a dark blue background.
A bold geometric sans-serif font, set in uppercase, makes the company name more visible. It resembles a range of grotesques, including Rational TW Text Bold by Rene Bieder, Workaday Bold by Yes Please, and Verb Extra Condensed Extrabold by Yellow Design Studio. Another related font is Futura Condensed Bold, designed by typographer Paul Renner.
Gap’s dark blue (#003763) and white (#FFFFFF) were not chosen by chance. Gap, Inc. uses a similar color scheme, and Gap owns the Old Navy brand. Blue symbolizes constancy, honesty, and a good reputation. White personifies perfection and purity.