As one of the world’s most popular shoe companies, and the most popular sneaker worn by NBA players, everyone seems to be fascinated by Nike. However, even though you’ve likely seen the commercials and the billboards, and might even own some pairs yourself, you still might not know a lot about this fascinating and powerful corporation.
Luckily for you, we have several fun facts about Nike that you need to know about. So keep on reading and we will take you through everything that you need to know.
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The First Nike Prototypes Were Made Out of Kangaroo and Fish
In the 1950s, track coach Bill Bowerman became dissatisfied with the way that running shoes were designed. So he decided to experiment with his own designs.
He tried fish skin, deer hide, velvet, and kangaroo leather as his early prototypes. And used the track athlete and future Nike co-founder, Phil Knight, as his guinea pig.
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The Company Started as a College Assignment
Phil Knight attended the University of Oregon before he moved to Stanford in the early 60s. He needed to come up with a business plan for one of his classes.
He came up with the idea of designing shoes in the United States but manufacturing them in Japan, thereby creating high-quality shoes at a fraction of the cost.
While they started as running shoes, Nike would go on to make basketball shoes like the Air Jordans and skating shoes like the Dunk Low Pro SB.
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The Nike Swoosh Only Cost Them $35
The Nike Swoosh is probably one of the most famous logos in all of marketing history. But it isn’t something that took hundreds of people and millions of dollars to come up with.
Instead, Knight reached out to Portland University Student, Carolyn Davidson, who came up with several designs. In 1971, one of the ideas that she presented was the Nike swoosh.
Knight wasn’t thrilled by the logo but chose it anyway and gave Davidson $35 as compensation for her work.
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The Swoosh Came Before the Name
After the company bought the logo, they needed a good name. Originally, they were Blue Ribbon Sports but they wanted something better. Names like Bengal and Dimension 6 were suggested.
One employee suggested the name of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike. He thought of the name in his sleep and had also read that names with letters like K and Z were seen as provocative.
While Knight didn’t like the name, a manufacturing deadline was coming up so he went with it.
The Importance of Knowing Fun Facts About Nike
Hopefully, after reading the above articles, you now feel that you have learned some fun facts about Nike. As we can see, Nike is a really interesting company that had a unique and unexpected start. Hopefully, these facts will inspire young entrepreneurs to not give up on their dreams either.
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