What I've found is that "serious" equipment tends to have subdued branding, or at least has some options like that.
I have a pair of basketball shorts that are still going strong after something like 12 years. They're Nike, but the logo is black on black, so barely visible if you don't look for it. Ditto for the basketball shoes. The logo is barely visible since it's the same color as the shoe. The shoes are somewhat recognizable, though, because of the air thing at the heel.
Decathlon (French sports brand) also has gym shorts that are subdued. Small black logo on dark green cloth. They're also cheaper than the Nike shorts, but do seem flimsier. Their "running" t-shirts are great and have options with barely visible branding.
Now, motorcycling gear is a whole different story... For some reason, it's very hard to find something that doesn't look like a freaking billboard.
Similarly high end consumer brands like Gucci don't blast their labels on their high end products. The cheap stuff is cheap because you become a walking billboard. The expensive stuff is expensive because you just paid for quality. That's even within one company so your point is even more extreme across an industry.
Dior and Louis Vuitton love putting their logos all over their products, especially accessories. I think it cheapens the brand, but i'm not their marketing person.
Even with those if you sort their products by price the higher cost ones have a subtler logo because you're right, it does cheapen the product. The higher cost/higher end from these brands are basically a separate company with a shared name.
The lower cost ones have the logo because that's how the people you're around will know. The higher cost ones don't have the logo because the people around you will recognize quality.
I have a pair of basketball shorts that are still going strong after something like 12 years. They're Nike, but the logo is black on black, so barely visible if you don't look for it. Ditto for the basketball shoes. The logo is barely visible since it's the same color as the shoe. The shoes are somewhat recognizable, though, because of the air thing at the heel.
Decathlon (French sports brand) also has gym shorts that are subdued. Small black logo on dark green cloth. They're also cheaper than the Nike shorts, but do seem flimsier. Their "running" t-shirts are great and have options with barely visible branding.
Now, motorcycling gear is a whole different story... For some reason, it's very hard to find something that doesn't look like a freaking billboard.