Two visionaries, Bill Bowerman (February 19, 1911 – December 24, 1999) and his University of Oregon runner Phil Knight (born February 24, 1938), thought they could do a better job of designing and selling shoes to runners. Today Nike is the world’s leading innovator in athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories.
The company was founded in 1964 as Blue-Ribbon Sports in Beaverton, Oregon. The company initially operated as a distributor for Japanese shoemaker Onitsuka Tiger, which meet Knight's automobile. Bill Bowerman and his former student opened their first retail outlet in 1966 and was incorporated on September 8, 1969.
The company launched the Nike brand shoe in 1972. By the time after the first retail store, it got expanded in different regions as in the East Coast, in Wellesley. The relationship of BRS and Onitsuka Tiger was coming to end in 1971, and the company made its own line of footwear before it was renamed Nike, Inc., in 1978. The company went public two years later.
The firm is engaged in the design, development, marketing and selling of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services and from the late 1980s Nike steadily expanded its business and diversified its product line through numerous acquisitions.
Multinational Corporation Of Nike
