The Top 13 Badminton Brands for Rackets & Other Equipment

If you are only starting in the badminton world and are looking at getting some equipment in order to practice this great sport, you may wonder which brands are more trusted and used. In this post, we have collected all the main brands that you can find in badminton, giving a small introduction to all of them and specifying which products they sell and in which markets. Before we start with each one, though, let’s first list all the best badminton brands:

• Yonex
• Victor
• Carlton
• Li Ning
• Wilson
• FZ Forza
• Fleet
• Yang Yang
• Karakal
• Yehlex
• Babolat
• RSL
• Protech

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Yonex

Yonex is the most important and best-marketed badminton brand there is. Founded in 1946, it started producing badminton rackets in 1957. Since then, it has grown to be the major player in the badminton world, sponsoring the All England Open Badminton Championships and partnering with the Badminton World Federation (which organizes the World Championships) as a preferred partner. It is also my go-to brand whenever I need to buy any badminton equipment. For example, I have highlighted them only in my review for the best badminton kit bags because I have only owned kit bags from them and they have been extremely durable.

Main Markets

Yonex is available through its distributors in at least 45 countries, over five continents.

Products offered

Yonex offers everything there is to offer in the badminton world. Moreover, they are the BWF’s preferred supplier in a number of products such as badminton mats. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Mats
• Nets
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

Yonex sponsors a big amount of teams and players (80% of professional badminton players use their rackets). The list is too large to be added fully here, so we only added the most known names:

• Kento Momota
• Lin Dan
• Viktor Axelsen
• Carolina Marín
• Lee Chong Wei

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Victor

Victor is a very well-known brand in the world of badminton. Even though not as prominent as Yonex is, it is also used by a lot of professional players. The company was founded by Chen Den Li (still chairman of the company) in 1968 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Main Markets

Victor is a brand that sells its products in more than sixty countries over five continents, which means it will probably be available in your country too.

Products offered

Victor offers everything that all the big brands offer. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Mats
• Nets
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

Victor sponsors the following main teams and players:

• Tai Tzu Ying (World No. 1 at the time of this writing)
• Badminton Association of Malaysia
• Badminton Denmark
• Badminton Oceania
• Chinese Taipei Olympic Committe

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Carlton

With over 150 years of history, Carlton is another of the big names in the badminton world. Their main focus lies on rackets. According to their site, they introduced the first modern-day metal badminton racket.

Main Markets

Carlton main markets are the US and Europe and, especially, the UK. It can be a much more expensive brand to purchase outside its natural environment, but more due to the lack of distributors and dealers than due to an added quality.

Products offered

Carlton has a wide range of products that they sell. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Nets
• Accessories including:
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

Carlton sponsors the following main teams and players:

• Hans-Kristian Vittinghus

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Li Ning

Li Ning Company was founded in 1989 by Li Ning, a former Chinese Olimpic Gymnast. Li Ning has been very active on marketing in order to expand internationally, investing a lot of money on sports such as basketball, where they sponsor NBA superstar Dwyane Wade. It was also an official partner of the NBA itself.

Main Markets

Li Ning primary market is China, where the company is from and where more people know it. However, thanks to its marketing efforts, it is now a brand known and used worldwide, even though not as much in the badminton world as it could be in basketball.

Products offered

Li Ning offers everything that can be for sale as far as badminton is concerned. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

Li Ning sponsors the following main teams and players:

• Chinese National Badminton
• Singapore Badminton Association
• Chen Long
• Gronya Somerville

Wilson

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Wilson was founded in 1913 as “Ashland Manufacturing Company”. In 1915, when Thomas E. Wilson became president of the company, he renamed it Thomas E Wilson Company. Wilson sells products in a lot of different sports, such as baseball, basketball, golf, squash, tennis and volleyball. They are more important in other sports like tennis, where they sponsor Roger Federer among others. However, they also play a role in the badminton world.

Main Markets

Wilson main market is the United States, where the company was founded. In there, Wilson has a big presence compared to its importance in other countries

Products offered

Wilson offers everything there is to offer in the badminton world. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

We could not find any information on which players or teams Wilson currently sponsors.

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FZ Forza

FZ FORZA was founded in 1990 in Denmark. It was founded with the idea of a Danish quality product at a fair price as an alternative to the Asian brands.

Main Markets

FZ Forza main market is Europe and especially Denmark, the country in Europe where badminton is most practised and popular.

Products offered

FZ Forza offers the standard range of badminton products. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

FZ Forza sponsors the following main teams and players:

• Anders Antonsen
• Clara Nistad

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Fleet

Fleet is a Malaysian company founded in 1992 which specialises in badminton products and services.

Main Markets

Fleet main market is Asia and its hometown Malaysia. However, their products can be found worldwide.

Products offered

Fleet offers all the products that the big brands offer. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Mats
• Nets
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

We could not find any information on which players or teams Fleet currently sponsors.

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Yang Yang

The Yang Yang brand is the brainchild of none other than Yang Yang himself, a former World No. 1 Chinese badminton player, regarded as a legendary player in the history of the sport.  The brand is a property of Ruby Glamour Sdn Bhd (RG), a private limited company established on July 11, 1994, in Malaysia. Yang Yang himself is the co-founder and a director of the company.

Main Markets

Even though it is stronger in Asia, Yang Yang sells its products in more than 30 countries including Germany, America, Korea, Indonesia, Denmark, Pakistan, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Products offered

Yang Yang has a big variety of products available. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

Yang Yang sponsors the following main teams and players:

• David Daugaard

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Karakal

The Karakal brand was founded in Belgium in 1978 by Roger Vercambre and was the property of SPGS Dendermonde Belgium. 

The Karakal brand mark was used on shoes, rackets and clothing. Karakal UK started distributing in the UK in 1981 and in 1985 purchased the rights to the UK & Ireland. In 1991 a new company was formed called Karakal Worldwide Ltd and the rights to the rest of the world were purchased.

Main Markets

Although its home market is in Europe and the United Kingdom, Karakal has distributors in over 40 countries.

Products offered

Karakal offers the standard range of products for a badminton company, even though not as much variety as other brands. To give an example, on their main website, it only has available plastic shuttlecocks and not the more professional ones with feathers. The list of products is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

Karakal sponsors the following main teams and players:

• Ethan Rose
• Michał Kazmierczak

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Yehlex

Yehlex (UK) was founded in 1985 by its present owner, Ian Little. Ian left his job as financial director of a construction company and started a company about one of his passions, badminton. Yehlex is now one of the most important badminton companies in the UK.

Main Markets

Yehlex main focus lies in the United Kingdom. However, its collaboration with Apacs ensures an international reach of their brands.

Products offered

Yehlex focus was for many years only on rackets and shuttlecocks. However, they offer now a wide range of products. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

We could not find any information on which players or teams Yehlex currently sponsors. However, its “sister” company, Apacs, sponsors the following players:

• Lee Hyun II
• Zulfadli Zulkiffli
• Tan Chun Seang

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Babolat

Babolat is a French company founded in 1875. Even though its main focus and popularity is due to tennis (Rafael Nadal uses their rackets), they also have a wide range of products for badminton.

Main Markets

As an international company, Babolat can be found in more than 100 countries. However, as their focus is on tennis, it is difficult to know which of these countries also offer badminton products.

Products offered

Babolat has the standard selection of products for a badminton company. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

Babolat sponsors a lot of players, as can be seen on their website. The following is an extract of that list:

• Adam Mendrek
• Joachim Fischer Nielsen
• Stefani Stoeva

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RSL

Founded in England in 1928, RSL is mostly well known for its shuttlecocks, although it also provides rackets, shoes, bags, apparel and accessories as most companies do.

Main Markets

Having been founded in England, its main focus still lies in its home town and Europe. However, their factories for shuttlecocks are located in China and, as a result, they are also very important there. In total, they have presence in over 40 countries as can be seen on their website.

Products offered

As previously said, their main is shuttlecocks. However, they also offer the standard range of products. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

RSL sponsors the following main teams and players:

• Frederik Søgaard

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Protech

Protech is an international shuttlecocks brand name registered in 1990. They currently deliver their products more than 20 countries and they state on their website a willingness to expand even further.

From its origin as a manufacturer of Badminton shuttlecocks, Protech has over the years advanced itself to become the market leader in the development and manufacturing of shuttlecocks and all badminton related accessories such as racquets, guards, grips, thermal bags and etc.

The company now boasts a solid manufacturing foundation in China Xiamen with HQ located in Shah Alam, Malaysia.

Main Markets

Currently, they deliver their products to more than 20 countries around the globe, but with a willingness to keep expanding further.

Products offered

Protech, as RSL, started as a company manufacturing shuttlecocks, but they currently offer also the standard range of badminton products. The list is as follows:

• Rackets
• Shoes
• Apparel
• Bags
• Shuttlecocks
• Nets
• Accessories including:
  • Grips
  • Racket strings

Sponsored players or teams

Protech sponsors the following main teams and players:

• CHONG Wei Feng
• LEE Chun Hei Reginald
• CHAU Hoi Wah

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Final words

And with this, we arrive at the end of this list. We hope this list has helped you get a better idea on the most famous badminton brands available.

If you are looking at products and wanted to know which brands to trust, be sure to check our badminton kit bags guide for an in-depth research on kit bags and for a tip on which brand I prefer.

If you are new to badminton and you wanted to know what brands are available, you can check our badminton basics post where I have collected in one post all the basics of badminton, including rules, equipment needed and where you can play it.

Do you see any brand missing? Any information that would be interesting to add?

Please let us know in the comments below!