Named for the Greek Goddess of victory, Nike is the world’s largest athletic apparel and shoe supplier. The company not only shaped the modern footwear industry but also revolutionized sports marketing with its strategy of endorsing athletes to personify its brand. In 2021, the company’s market capitalization exceeded $250B.
Nike cofounders Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman met on the University of Oregon’s track team (Knight ran, Bowerman coached). After graduate school, Knight founded Blue Ribbon Sports to distribute Japan’s Onitsuka Tiger running shoes in America.
When Knight sent Bowerman a demo pair of the sneakers, hoping that Bowerman’s team of runners would wear them, Bowerman asked to be Knight’s business partner. The pair joined forces, selling shoes at track meets out of the back of Knight’s car before parting ways with the Japanese distributor and becoming Nike in 1971.
Amid the brand’s financial and commercial success, critics have previously raised questions about the company’s labor practices and political messaging.
Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.
People recognize the Nike “swoosh” brand logo all over the world. The simplicity of the logo and the short, snappy name of the company are largely responsible for the brand’s wide-sweeping visibility.
A student Nike cofounder Phil Knight met while teaching at Portland State designed the logo for the “Nike” football shoe (the company was still Blue Ribbon Sports at the time). When Phil Knight saw it, he said, “Well, I don’t love it, but it will grow on me.”
They became business partners when Knight tried to sell the Onitsuka Tigers to Bowerman for the Oregon track team. Bowerman told Knight he didn’t just want the shoes; he wanted in on the whole deal.
Nike cofounder Phil Knight’s first business venture was distributing Onitsuka Tiger running shoes in America. Knight would drive to track meets and sell the shoes out of the back of his car.
Nike cofounder Phil Knight’s original idea was to begin selling Japanese shoes, which were cheaper and just as light and durable as the leading German shoes from Adidas and Puma, at a lower price in the American market. His last assignment in business school at Stanford became the original business plan for Blue Ribbon Sports.
Jeff Johnson, the company’s first full-time employee, said the name came to him in a dream just before Blue Ribbon Sports filed a patent for the “Nike” football shoe. Nike cofounder Phil Knight wanted to name the company “Dimension Six,” but was ultimately convinced that a one-word name would be better. (Some users may experience a paywall.)
Before Nike took off, Phil Knight taught accounting classes at Portland State. He met two very important people there: his wife Penelope and Carolyn Davidson, who designed Nike’s logo.
Because of amateur running regulations, Prefontaine—who held every American running record from 2,000 to 10,000 meters at the time—couldn’t do a paid endorsement for Nike. So Nike’s Phil Knight decided to give him a $5K yearly stipend and print business cards that said Prefontaine was the “National Director of Public Affairs.” When asked what that meant, Knight said, “it means he can run fast.”
Nike cofounder Bill Bowerman was trying to find new ways to create traction for his runners on artificial turf. He looked at the waffle iron and realized that the pattern would work for the shoes’ soles.
Nike cofounder and University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman poured polyurethane into a waffle iron for his first attempt at creating the revolutionary waffle-knit sole. The waffle iron, which was found in his backyard, now sits in Nike’s headquarters.
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