NIKE, INC.
BACKGROUND
Nike, Inc., was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports
by
Bill
Bowerman,
the
American
sportswear company, Oregon, and his former Diagram above shown Nike Logo Evolution.
student -Phil Knight. They began 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
Part
two years later. By the early 21st century, Nike
owed
to
began in 1990, pay tribute to these and other
throughout the world and cost it $35, which is
company
$205 in today’s dollar.
spokespersons
while
offering
consumers a full range of Nike products. In the 1990s the company’s image briefly suffered
From 1980s Nike gradually expanded its diversified
numerous
is
The Nike Town chain stores, the first of which
mark called the “swoosh”—was recognized
through
success
Mia Hamm, Roger Federer, and Tiger Woods.
170 countries, and its logo—a curved check
and
Nike’s
endorsements by athletes like Michael Jordan,
had retail outlets and distributors in more than
business
of
its
product
acquisitions,
from revelations about poor working conditions
line
in its overseas factories.
including
Converse, Inc. (2003), the shoe companies Cole Haan (1988; sold in 2012), the athletic
Nike is now the market front-runner in the
apparel and equipment company Umbro (2008;
manufacturing of sportswear and gear and
sold
sports-equipment
enjoys possessing more than 47% of the
producer Canstar Sports, Inc. (1994; later
market share across the globe. Nike’s mission
called Bauer and sold in (2008), In 1996 the
is to bring innovation and inspiration to every
company created Nike ACG (“all-conditions
athlete (Nike Inc., 2012). The company has
gear”), which markets products for extreme
more than 700 shops around the world and has
sports
and
offices situated around 45 countries outside the
snowboarding. In the early 21st century Nike
United States. Most of its factories are in
started selling sports-technology accessories,
Southeast Asia including China, Taiwan, India,
including high-altitude wrist compasses and
Indonesia,
portable heart-rate monitors.
Vietnam, and Malaysia, etc.
in
2012)
such
and
as
the
mountain
biking
1
Pakistan,
Thailand,
Philippines,
