History of nike


Nike, Inc., formerly (1964/78) Blue Ribbon Sports, American sportswear company headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon. It was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman, a track-and-field coach at the University of Oregon, and his former student Phil Knight. They opened their first retail outlet in 1966 and launched the Nike brand shoe in 1972. The company was renamed Nike, Inc., in 1978 and went public two years later. By the early 21st century, Nike had retail outlets and distributors in more than 170 countries, and its logo—a curved check mark called the swoosh was recognized throughout the world. From the late 1980s Nike steadily expanded its business and diversified its product line through numerous acquisitions, including the shoe companies Cole Haan (1988; sold in 2012) and Converse, Inc. (2003), the sports-equipment producer Canstar Sports, Inc. (1994; later called Bauer and sold in 2008), and the athletic apparel and equipment company Umbro (2008; sold in 2012). In 1996 the company created Nike ACG (all conditions gear), which markets products for extreme sports such as snowboarding and mountain biking. In the early 21st century Nike began selling sports-technology accessories, including portable heart-rate monitors and high-altitude wrist compasses. Part of Nike’s success is owed to endorsements by such athletes as Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm, Roger Federer, and Tiger Woods. The NikeTown chain stores, the first of which opened in 1990, pay tribute to these and other company spokespersons while offering consumers a full range of Nike products. In the 1990s the company image briefly suffered from revelations about poor working conditions in its overseas factories.
nikeshoe

First Nike shoe ever designed

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Nike Timeline:

  • 1964 - Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman found Blue Ribbon Sports.
  • 1971 - Cutting ties with Onitsuka Tiger (now Asics), Blue Ribbon Sports becomes Nike Inc., using swoosh logo created by Portland State University student Carolyn Davis for $35
  • 1971 - Bowerman comes up with iconic sole pattern for Waffle Trainers after putting rubber into a waffle iron
  • 1972 - Romanian tennis player Ilie Nastase becomes the first athlete to sign an endorsement with Nike.
  • 1979 - Nike introduces patented "Air" technology with new Tailwind shoe.
  • 1980- Nike completes IPO with a price of 18 cents a share.
  • 1984 - Nike signs Michael Jordan, launching Air Jordan series.
  • 1987 - Nike drops ad for new Air Max shoes set to The Beatles' "Revolution," making it the first ad to use the band's music.
  • 1988 - First "Just Do It" campaign launches with ad featuring 80-year-old running icon Walter Stack running across the Golden Gate Bridge.
  • 1989 - "Bo Knows" ad campaign drops featuring baseball and football star Bo Jackson.
  • 1990 - First Niketown store opens in Portland, Oregon.
  • 1991 - Activist Jeff Ballinger publishes report exposing low wages and poor working conditions among Indonesian Nike factories. Nike responds by instating its first factory codes of conduct.
  • 1996 - Nike signs Tiger Woods.
  • 1998 - In the face of widespread protest, Nike raises the minimum age of its workers, increases monitoring, and adopts U.S. OSHA clean-air standards in overseas factories.
  • 1999 - Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman dies at 88.
  • 2002 - Nike acquires surf-apparel company Hurley.
  • 2003 - Nike signs Lebron James and Kobe Bryant.
  • 2004 - Nike acquires Converse for $309 million.
  • 2004 - Phil Knight steps down as CEO and president of Nike, but retains chairman role as William D. Perez becomes the company's new CEO.
  • 2008 - Nike signs Derek Jeter.
  • 2012 - Nike becomes official supplier for NFL apparel.
  • 2015 - Nike becomes official supplier for NBA apparel.
  • 2018 - Nike unveils ad campaign featuring athlete and political activist Colin Kaepernick, garnering a mix of public approval and backlash
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The new Nike clothes 2020
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