Nike Facts
Nike Facts
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| Interesting Nike Facts: |
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| The idea for a sneaker company came to Phil Knight while he was writing a paper in college. He hooked up with Onitsuka Tiger because he believed the Japanese-made shoes could compete with Puma and Adidas. |
| The first person that Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman hired was Jeff Johnson, the person who would suggest they use the name Nike. Knight wanted the name to be Dimension 6, but Johnson's name suggestion won out in the end. |
| The first athlete to endorse Nike was Ilie Nastase, a Romanian tennis player, who signed a contract with Nike in 1972. |
| Nike's famous slogan 'Just Do It' launched in 1988. It became such an iconic slogan that it was enshrined in the Smithsonian. A serial killer named Gary Gilmore may have inspired the slogan 'Just Do It', as he uttered those words right before his execution in 1977. |
| The Nike logo was designed by a Portland State University student named Carolyn Davidson. For her design she was paid $35. Phil Knight also gave her a Nike logo ring with a diamond and stock in an unknown amount in 1983. |
| The first piece of athletic apparel to have the Nike logo was a soccer cleat. |
| In the early years Nike made it sneakers in the United States, but today they are made around the world in Vietnam, Indonesia, and in China. |
| Nike's basketball sneakers called the Blazer were named for the team of one its players Geoff Petrie. Geoff was one of the very first NBA players to wear the Nike brand of shoes on the court. |
| Nike was the first brand to use an actual song recorded by The Beatles in a commercial. It was the first time any of the actual recordings by The Beatles was used in advertising products. |
| Nike's first retail store opened in California in 1967, although it was a Blue Ribbon Sports store. |
| Nike made a shirt for the Panthers - a team in North Carolina. When the t shirt was printed they accidentally printed it with a map of South Carolina on it. |
| 80,000 pairs of Nike shoes including Air Solo Flights, Pegasus, and Strike Forces were lost at sea in 1990. Some of the shoes have been spotted in the ocean since. |
| When Nike took the Air Jordan line public they only expected to earn $3 million in the first three years, but the line was so popular it made $130 million in the first 12 months. |
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