Sports brand Hoka called out for appropriating Māori word

The sportswear company Hoka has become the latest in a string of brands to be accused of misappropriating Māori culture, after Indigenous intellectual property experts in New Zealand accused it of failing to acknowledge the origins of its name.

- Eva Corlett

The firm, which specialises in running shoes, takes its name from the Māori word hoka, meaning "to fly". Its logo is a bird on the wing and its tagline is "fly, human, fly".

The company was founded in France as Hoka One One in 2009, when it attributed its name to the "ancient Māori language". That attribution disappeared from the "about" section of its website in 2012, when it was acquired by the California-based Deckers Brands. The current Hoka site gives no background on the origin of the name.