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History of NIKE, Inc.

Founded as an importer of Japanese shoes, NIKE, Inc. (Nike) has grown to be the world's largest marketer of athletic footwear, holding a g lobal market share of approximately 37 percent. In the United States, Nike products are sold through about 22,000 retail accounts; worldwi de, the company's products are sold in more than 160 countries. Both domestically and overseas Nike operates retail stores, including Nike Towns and factory outlets. Nearly all of the items are manufactured b y independent contractors, primarily located overseas, with Nike invo lved in the design, development, and marketing. In addition to its wi de range of core athletic shoes and apparel marketed under the flagsh ip Nike brand, the company also sells footwear under the Converse, Ch uck Taylor, All Star, and Jack Purcell brands through wholly owned su bsidiary Converse Inc. and sells under the brands Starter, Shaq, and Asphalt in the discount retailer channel through another subsidiary, Exeter Brands Group LLC. The firm also sells Nike and Bauer brand ath letic equipment; Hurley surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding appa rel and footwear; and Cole Haan brand dress and casual footwear. Nike has relied on consistent innovation in the design of its products an d heavy promotion to fuel its growth in both U.S. and foreign markets . The ubiquitous presence of the Nike brand and its Swoosh trademark led to a backlash against the company by the late 20th century, parti cularly in relation to allegations of low wages and poor working cond itions at the company's Asian contract manufacturers.

BRS Beginnings: 1960s

Nike's precursor originated in 1962, a product of the imagination of Philip H. Knight, a Stanford University business graduate who had bee n a member of the track team as an undergraduate at the University of Oregon. Traveling in Japan after finishing business school, Knight g ot in touch with a Japanese firm that made athletic shoes, the Onitsu ka Tiger Co., and arranged to import some of its products to the Unit ed States on a small scale. Knight was convinced that Japanese runnin g shoes could become significant competitors for the German products that then dominated the American market. In the course of setting up his agreement with Onitsuka Tiger, Knight invented Blue Ribbon Sports to satisfy his Japanese partner's expectations that he represented a n actual company, and this hypothetical firm eventually grew to becom e Nike, Inc.

At the end of 1963, Knight's arrangements in Japan came to fruition w hen he took delivery of 200 pairs of Tiger athletic shoes, which he s tored in his father's basement and peddled at various track meets in the area. Knight's one-man venture became a partnership in the follow ing year, when his former track coach, William Bowerman, chipped in & #36;500 to equal Knight's investment. Bowerman had long been experime nting with modified running shoes for his team, and he worked with ru nners to improve the designs of prototype Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) sh oes. Innovation in running shoe design eventually would become a corn erstone of the company's continued expansion and success. Bowerman's efforts first paid off in 1968, when a shoe known as the Cortez, whic h he had designed, became a big seller.

BRS sold 1,300 pairs of Japanese running shoes in 1964, its first yea r, to gross $8,000. By 1965 the fledgling company had acquired a full-time employee and sales had reached $20,000. The following y ear, the company rented its first retail space, next to a beauty salo n in Santa Monica, California, so that its few employees could stop s elling shoes out of their cars. In 1967 with fast-growing sales, BRS expanded operations to the East Coast, opening a distribution office in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Bowerman's innovations in running shoe technology continued throughou t this time. A shoe with the upper portion made of nylon went into de velopment in 1967, and the following year Bowerman and another employ ee came up with the Boston shoe, which incorporated the first cushion ed midsole throughout the entire length of an athletic shoe. Also in 1968 the company was incorporated as BRS, Inc.

Emergence of Nike: 1970s

By the end of the decade, Knight's venture had expanded to include se veral stores and 20 employees and sales were nearing $300,000. Th e company was poised for greater growth, but Knight was frustrated by a lack of capital to pay for expansion. In 1971, using financing fro m the Japanese trading company Nissho Iwai Corporation, BRS was able to manufacture its own line of products overseas, through independent contractors, for import to the United States. At this time, the comp any introduced its Swoosh trademark and the brand name Nike, the Gree k goddess of victory. These new symbols were initially affixed to a s occer shoe, the first Nike product to be sold.

A year later, BRS broke with its old Japanese partner, Onitsuka Tiger , after a disagreement over distribution, and kicked off promotion of its own products at the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials, the first of many marketing campaigns that would seek to attach Nike's name and fortune s to the careers of well-known athletes. Nike shoes were geared to th e serious athlete, and their high performance carried with it a high price.

In their first year of distribution, the company's new products gross ed $1.96 million and the corporate staff swelled to 45. In additi on, operations were expanded to Canada, the company's first foreign m arket, which would be followed by Australia, in 1974.

Bowerman continued his innovations in running-shoe design with the in troduction of the Moon shoe in 1972, which had a waffle-like sole tha t had first been formed by molding rubber on a household waffle iron. This sole increased the traction of the shoe without adding weight.

In 1974 BRS opened its first U.S. plant, in Exeter, New Hampshire. Th e company's payroll swelled to 250, and worldwide sales neared $5 million by the end of 1974. This growth was fueled in part by aggres sive promotion of the Nike brand name. The company sought to expand i ts visibility by having its shoes worn by prominent athletes, includi ng tennis players Ilie Nastase and Jimmy Connors. At the 1976 Olympic Trials these efforts began to pay off as Nike shoes were worn by ris ing athletic stars.

The company's growth had truly begun to take off by this time, riding the boom in popularity of jogging that took place in the United Stat es in the late 1970s. BRS revenues tripled in two years to $14 mi llion in 1976, and then doubled in just one year to $28 million i n 1977. To keep up with demand, the company opened new factories, add ing a stitching plant in Maine and additional overseas production fac ilities in Taiwan and Korea. International sales were expanded when m arkets in Asia were opened in 1977 and in South America the following year. European distributorships were lined up in 1978.

Nike continued its promotional activities with the opening of Athleti cs West, a training club for Olympic hopefuls in track and field, and by signing tennis player John McEnroe to an endorsement contract. In 1978 the company changed its name to Nike, Inc. The company expanded its line of products that year, adding athletic shoes for children.

By 1979 Nike sold almost half the running shoes bought in the United States, and the company moved into a new world headquarters building in Beaverton, Oregon. In addition to its shoe business, the company b egan to make and market a line of sports clothing, and the Nike Air s hoe cushioning device was introduced.