Nike’s journey to becoming one of the largest sports shoe brands in the world
Today, Nike is a “heavyweight” competitor of two other famous American multinational corporations that produce sportswear, Puma and Adidas. Although both brands are older than Nike, Nike has a net worth of about $35 billion, more than Puma or Adidas. In addition, the brand has “hands-on” products that are present in almost every professional sport globally: from athletic shoes, to clothing, accessories, equipment and services.
A humble beginning
The sports company’s journey began in 1962 with co-founder Phil Knight. At that time, Nike was not yet the name of the company. In 1962, Phil had just graduated from Stanford University and was looking to assert himself. Originally an isolated athlete, Phil has a fair amount of knowledge about sports shoes. And that is the foundation for Phil to start his career in the field of sports shoes.
A business graduate, Phil wanted to pursue a career in business but didn’t have many connections. At that time, starting from a thought, if Japanese cameras can become a worthy competitor to German cameras in the US market, so can Japanese shoes, he traveled to Japan. Copy. Here, Phil searches for a good shoe brand that can help him make his entrepreneurial dream come true. Finally, in Kobe, Japan, he found Onitsuka Tiger’s shoe store and knew he was going to work with the brand. And Phil immediately came up with the name ‘Blue Ribbon Sport’, introducing himself as an American shoe distributor. This helped him get a deal with the Japanese shoe label.
The journey to create the leading sports shoe brand in the US
Next came the challenge of scaling up the business and popularizing Japanese shoes in the US. Puma and Adidas have enjoyed impressive sales in the US at this point. Phil understands that he needs expert guidance and support to set up a large business in the US. And he contacted his coach at the University of Oregon, Bill Bowerman.
Phil is well aware of his former coach’s popularity in the US as a coach and also an Olympic athlete and he has used this popularity to expand his business. mine. Phil successfully managed to get Bill Bowerman’s attention in this entrepreneurial endeavor and both invested $500 each to start the business.
Coach Bowerman, who had long believed that German shoes, while the best on the market, were nothing too special to replicate or even improve, supported Knight’s venture, joining in. a 50-50 business agreement to own their new company, Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), founded in Eugene, Oregon, on January 25, 1964.
In one year, they achieved sales of $8,000; However, just a year later, shoe sales had more than doubled, to $20,000. Bill Bowerman is the perfect choice for Phil as a business partner. Sales grew exponentially as a result of Bill’s access to the market and the sports world.
Bill Bowerman really has a lot of “tricks”. He knew he had to do more to make BRS great. In 1965, he wrote a book about the necessity and benefits of running. This has helped increase sales of BRS shoes for running and jogging. With Bill’s brilliant ideas, ‘Cortez’ was launched into the mainstream sportswear line. He also repeatedly sent requests to Onitsuka Tiger for flexibility in the shoe manufacturing process.
“Self-Sufficient”
As running shoes became a popular trend with Bill’s book on running, the demand for BRS shoes increased. At times, demand is so high that it exceeds supply. Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman also realized that Onitsuka Tiger only sent out sneakers after serving enough Japanese needs in the country.
Along with that, in 1965, Bowerman, always creative, came up with an idea for a new shoe model for the Tiger shoe company. The shoe provides a runner’s fit with a cushioned insole, soft foam rubber in the forefoot and top of the heel, hard foam rubber in the midfoot, and a sturdy rubber outsole.
This design turned out to be both a huge success and a source of conflict between Blue Ribbon and the Japanese supplier. Dubbed the Tiger Cortez, the shoe debuted in 1967 and became an instant hit thanks to its comfortable, sturdy and stylish design.
Around the time of the new model’s success, however, the relationship between Blue Ribbon and Tiger had soured. Knight claims the Japanese company is looking to get out of an exclusivity deal with Blue Ribbon. Meanwhile, Tiger made the announcement, having discovered Blue Ribbon Sports selling their own version of the Tiger Cortez under a new line of shoes they call “Nike”.
Therefore, both founders of BRS decided to end the relationship of distributing sports shoes and producing themselves. This is also the time when the contract between Phil and Onitsuka Tiger is also about to expire. By 1971, the two were making their own shoes instead of just being distributors. In 1972, when the Munich Olympics were being held, the co-founders of the shoe company realized that this was the perfect time to take their sports shoe brand to life.
Nike logo (website nike.com)
On the other hand, this time, the company is also qualified to recruit sales director and other employees. Finally, Nike was launched, and the idea of the name was borrowed from Greek mythology. Slogan of ‘Just Do It‘ is so inspiring and simple that it’s becoming more and more popular. Knight and Bowerman hired a graphic design student to design the logo for just $35.
After being born on May 30, 1971, Nike, Inc. continued the success of Blue Ribbon Sports, first with the explosion of the Tiger Cortez shoe and then with Bowerman’s innovative “Waffle” sole design.
This shoe model was a great success for Nike, being the first shoe that helped Nike maintain strong and steady growth in its early days, culminating in its IPO in 1980. With this IPO event. , Phil Knight instantly became a millionaire with shares worth $178 million.
(According to The Richest, Forbes, TheStreet)
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