What the Paper Planes Logo Means
The Paper Planes logo is a black-and-white American flag folded into a paper plane. It represents arriving somewhere mentally before you arrive there physically, the idea that you have to picture a place before you can reach it.
It is a more specific idea than most clothing logos carry, and the specificity is the point. This is not an abstract mark chosen because it looked good on a hat.
Why a flag, and why black and white
This is the part most explanations get wrong, and Jones is unambiguous about it. The flag is not a patriotic statement. It is a cultural one.
"When we threw the flag on it, the flag was just representing culture. Black flag just represent, that's just who we are. It's culture. You ain't no colour on that. It's like you get a pair of Timberlands, these work boots, and you pull them out the box and never tie them up. That's what we do."
That Timberland line is the clearest gloss on the mark anyone has given. Culture is what happens when people take an object and use it their own way. Untied work boots. A flag folded into a plane.
Draining the red and blue out is the same move. It stops being about the country and starts being about the people.
Where the idea came from
Co-founder Emory Jones has explained it directly:
"Growing up, paper planes was, you could be from wherever. That was those things we made and we mentally flew away and dreamed. You can be in the projects and make that plane and throw it out the window. And that plane will have you thinking I can make it to Paris."
That is the whole logo, stated by the person who made it. The paper plane is the version of the journey you can take from wherever you already are.
He is specific about why it mattered to him personally, too. Jones grew up in Cambridge, Maryland, a town of about 13,000 people on the Eastern Shore:
"Coming from where I come from, yes, I was a dreamer, but I was never taught that I was going to ever get on a plane. I wasn't taught that I was going to make it to New York. We was taught: finish school, graduate, get a job. Paper planes back then helped me dream."
It is also where the brand's tagline comes from, Greatness Is A Process. Not a destination, and not luck. A sequence you move through, starting with deciding the destination exists.
Where you see it
The mark sits on the front panel of the founding product, the Original Crown, and on nearly everything since. It is usually embroidered rather than printed, and on many releases it is raised 3D embroidery.
Colourways change what the flag is made of without changing what it is - seasonal palettes, city editions, collaboration runs. The fold stays the same.
FAQ
What does the Paper Planes logo mean?
It is a black-and-white American flag folded into a paper plane, representing arriving somewhere mentally before arriving physically.
Why is the Paper Planes logo a flag?
The flag places the idea somewhere specific. A plain paper plane means escape; one folded from a flag is about the distance between where someone is and where they mean to be.
Why is the logo black and white?
Removing the colour keeps it from reading as a statement about patriotism. The flag is the material, not the subject.
What does Greatness Is A Process mean?
It is the brand's tagline and it follows from the logo, greatness as a sequence you work through rather than a destination you arrive at.
Who came up with the Paper Planes logo?
Co-founder Emory Jones has described the concept and its meaning in his own words, tying it to making paper planes as a kid in Cambridge, Maryland, and dreaming of getting out.
Why is the Paper Planes flag black and white?
Because it is about culture rather than country. Jones: "You ain't no colour on that." He compares it to pulling Timberlands out of the box and never tying them, culture is using a thing your own way.
Quotes from Emory Jones on Boardroom Talks with Rich Kleiman, also on YouTube.