Probably the best known sporting brand in the world, Nike began from very humble beginnings when Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman began a collaboration called Blue Ribbon Sports in the 60's and starting selling sports shoes from the boot of their cars. Bowerman was then a hugely successful running coach at the University of Oregon and was constantly searching for new ways to develop and improve athletes performance, one of which was finding better running shoes.
Knight was a talented middle distance runner from Portland who went to the University of Oregon in 1955 and had Bowerman as his running coach. Knight then took his MBA in Finance at Stanford University and tried to get Japanese manufacturers to bite on his idea of making high-tech sports shoes that would be better than the German brands (Adidas and Puma), which then dominated the market. Knight managed to receive permission to develop and sell professional running shoe from the Japanese brand Tiger Shoes in the USA and then contacted Bowerman, who became his business partner.
The two founded the company Blue Ribbon Sports. Knight went around the U.S. and sold Tiger running shoes directly from the trunk of his green Plymouth Valiant while Bowerman dissected Tiger shoes to see how he could improve the design for higher performance. Their first employee was running buddy Jeff Johnson who Knight had met at Stanford. Johnson developed the company by setting up a mail order business, which enabled the company's sales to increase considerably.
Behind the 'swoosh' and "Just do it".
Johnson was then responsible for the changing the name of the company to Nike, which was inspired by, Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. Carolyn Davidson, a design student at Portland State University, then designed the logo which has since become known around the world as the "swoosh". Phil Knight was the one who coined the inspirational slogan "Just do it" and Bowerman was the designer of the epoch-making Nike shoes with "waffle" imprint. Rumour has it that he got the pattern by using his wife's waffle iron.
Nike shoes and apparel worn by the big stars.
Through the 1980s, Nike become the market leader in athletic shoes, thanks to 'Nike Air' technology. Nike had great success with the Air Jordan shoe and the sponsorship of NBA god Michael Jordan. Nike invested heavily in footwear and apparel for running and football and sponsored major teams in those sports. It also made a major investment in Europe and thanks to successful sponsorship deals with football teams, it became a strong competitor of Adidas, who had previously been the European leader for footwear and apparel for athletes.
In the 90's Nike widened its range to include golf shoes and apparel and in 1996 signed a sponsorship agreement with Eldrick "Tiger" Woods. Nike also began with footwear and apparel for cyclists and a sponsorship deal with the great Lance Armstrong.
Nike shoes for everyone - "If You Have A Body, You are an athlete "
Nike is a classic example of a modern success story. Nike is the world's largest brand in the sport industry. Thanks to a unique innovative focus, with a constant product and you have a head start in terms of technical solutions for shoes and clothes that will give athletes the best chance to achieve their goals.
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