Just Do It - By Chris Daniels

The creation of the billion-dollar company started with just two men. Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight created a business based around athletic footwear for athletes. Bill Bowerman was a track and field coach at Oregon State University, and Phil Knight was one of his former students. On January 25th, 1964, Knight and Bowerman decided to create Blue Ribbon Sports, where their company would begin to operate in Eugene, Oregon, out of a trunk at track meets. Blue Ribbon began as a distributor of different shoes, mainly the Onitsuka Tiger brand. Knight loved the Onitsuka Tiger shoes and aimed to work with them instead of working alongside the German sneaker market. At this time, the world was set on Adidas and Puma, but Knight looked past them, headed to Japan, and worked with Onitsuka Tiger to create the next big shoe.

Photo: Nike.com

Knight and Bowerman wanted something bigger under their brand after a couple of years of working with Onitsuka as their main sole distributor in the US. They started to make a plan on what they would do differently. Soon after Blue Ribbon Sports and Onitsuka Tiger parted ways, Blue Ribbon Sports changed its name to Nike in 1971. Nike was named after the Greek Goddess of Victory. The famous swoosh logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson and inspired by the Greek Goddess's wing. The Portland State graphic design student was paid 35$ for her 17.5-hour drawing and gave it to her Accounting instructor, Phil Knight. The logo was known as the Swoosh and symbolized speed and success in the form of a checkmark.

Bowerman, the Track coach, created prototypes of shoes for his athletes. He tore different parts off of Onitsuka Tiger shoes and used his imagination on what he would change to create the first-ever Nike sneaker. The first Nike shoe was created and was nicknamed the Moon Shoe. The Nike sneaker was made using Bowerman's personal waffle iron. Bill Bowerman thought to utilize a waffle iron to leave a pattern on the shoe's sole to create traction when playing a sport. His plan had worked great and led to success because of its high performance and grippy design. This first-ever Nike prototype was sold at Sotheby’s sneaker auction for around $450,000. Nike began to grow and grow. The first televised commercial showed a variation of the Moon Shoe. Later, the Moon Shoes would be called the Nike Waffle Racer and were handed out to different athletes at various US track meets. This was Nike’s first big shoe, so they took a step in the right direction but were still behind big brands such as Adidas and Puma.

Photo: Flight Club

Knight and Bowerman found major success growing the Nike brand after one of their biggest design concepts hit the ground, the Aztec shoe. However, Nike had to change the name to the Nike Cortez because Adidas had a shoe with a similar name. The Cortez had immense support after it debuted in the Mexico Games. The shoe was said to have a very advanced design and had new technology to enhance the performance. After the big breakout shoe for Nike, a big problem was presented. The Nike Cortez was a spin-off of a shoe produced by Onitsuka before Bowerman and Knight split with Onitsuka. The Duo wanted to make a show like the one they had previously helped with but with their design and technology, which they did. The huge disagreement between the two companies led to a lawsuit, where the judge ruled that both brands could sell the shoe under their own brand name. As they continued in 1976, Nike expanded and hired John Brown and his partners, who owned an advertising company based out of Seattle. In ‘77, their team created the first brand ad for Nike. It was called “There is No Finish Line”. This brand ad was a game changer for Nike, and by 1980, they had attained about 50% of the market share in the US athletic shoe market. Later in the year, Nike became a fully public brand. Eventually, Nike became a serious competitor with Adidas and Puma.

Photo: Runners World

After their popularity in the world of sneakers, Nike decided to expand their company even more and take a step into the world of Clothing. Unsurprisingly, the athletic sportswear line hit the market and was an instant success. As the company started skyrocketing, in 1984, Nike signed Michael Jordan. Jordan was a 21-year-old basketball star rising in the NBA. Jordan signed with Nike but was said to have a fee of $500,000 a year. When Jordan signed, Nike promised him that he could create his own shoe inside the Nike brand. Air Jordan was created by designers including Tinker Hatfield, Peter Moore, and Bruce Kilgore. These designers focused on the Air Jordan brand and created the Jordan 1 shoe. The Jordan 1 was made only for Michael Jordan, but in April of 1985, the Jordan 1 went on sale for the public. The Jordan line would continue throughout Michael Jordan's career, with the latest release being the Air Jordan 38. Tinker Hatfield would develop many different Nike designs, including the Air Max 90, Nike Air MAG, Air Huarache, and many more. Nike would hire and sign many pro athletes and influencers representing the brand, including LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, Cristiano Ronaldo, Travis Scott, Drake, and Virgil Abloh. Nike would also step foot into the Skateboarding world in 2003, teaming up with Sandy Bodecker to create NIKE SB. To this day, Nike retains the top spot as the most valuable global apparel brand and has a net worth of $158 billion as of January 9th, 2024.