Air Jordans: A Very Brief History Of Nike

NIKE, Inc., is a company that was founded in by William Jay Bowerman and Philip H. Knight in 1964, and was originally called Blue Ribbon Sports, Inc. It’s name was changed to Nike, Inc. in 1971. It’s base of operation is located in Beaverton, Oregon. NIKE, Inc., is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities worldwide. Entirely owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse Inc., a brand that develops, advertises, and sells athletic apparel and accessories; and also Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and sells surf and youth lifestyle clothing and many different accessories. Its athletic footwear products are designed primarily for specific athletic use, although a large percentage of the products are worn for casual or leisure purposes. Nike offers products in many different categories such as men’s/women’s training, running, basketball, golf, and more. The company also sells products designed for children and youth athletic activities such as baseball, cricket, lacrosse, outdoor activities, football, tennis, volleyball, walking, and wrestling. Also, Nike sells sports apparel and accessories; and markets apparel with licensed college and professional team and league logos. Further, it sells a line of performance equipment and accessories, including sports bags, balls, eyewear, digital devices, bats, gloves, protective equipment, golf

Nike Inc. was established in 1972, from Blue Ribbon Sports Company that was formed earlier in 1964, by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight. The company first specialized in athletic footwear until in 1979, when it introduced the apparel line. The equipment division was later introduced in 1996. The company grew spontaneously to become the world's largest supplier of all sportswear, equipment, and apparel. The level of its infrastructure could only be compared to that of Adidas, which has been its main competitor over the decades. Currently, Mark

Michael Jordan, a man who is idolized for his athletic prowess, once said “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed” (“Michael Jordan Quotes”). 2.5 million dollars is an insane amount of money, so imagine how twenty-one-year-old Jordan felt signing this deal with Nike.inc; who used this as an opportunity to launch the Air-Jordan shoe, with the iconic Jump-man logo on the side. The popularity of these shoes led people to stand in lines and even steal them from others. Jordan’s immense talent earned him over thirty million dollars per season, but his businesses earned him a large chunk of money as well. MJ became the star of the hit movie, Space Jam, and endorsed products such as McDonalds, Hanes, and Gatorade. Three years after his retirement from the NBA, Jordan became an owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, currently the Hornets, becoming the first former player to own a franchise (Dodds, Colin). MJ supports over fifteen different charity cases, and some of them being: LIVESTRONG, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Special Olympics. His good-natured attitude and morals off the court added with his immense skill on it, firmly place him as one of the best players ever (“Michael Jordan: Charity

Michael Jordan had to fail to succeed. Michael Jordan failed at what he did to strive harder to be the best at what he was doing. Designers Peter Moore, Tinner Hatfield, and Bruce Kilgore dedicated the shoes to Michael by using his silhouette as the legendary “jump-man” logo. In early 1984, Jordan had no idea that being a part of Nike would be one of his greatest accomplishments in his career. Jordan makes 100 million dollars every year just from the production of shoes and clothing apparel because his silhouette is used on every pair. In order for him to even be considered to be the face of the shoe brand, Michael had to prove why he’s the best and there were a series of events that led to his major accomplishment.

Relevance Statement: According to Austin Carr of Fast Company (2013), Nike employs 44,000 people and is the most valuable brand in sports today. Everywhere we look we see the Nike swoosh, just go watch one of our athletic teams here at Purdue.

Nike was established in 1972 by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. These two men were visionaries. The goal for Nike was to carry on Bowerman’s legacy of innovative thinking by helping every athlete reach their goal or by creating lucrative business opportunities that would set the company apart from any competition. This included providing quality work environments for all who were employed by Nike.

Another big name that helped Nike was Tiger Woods who is one of the greatest golfers to ever play the game of golf. Tiger Woods became the second hottest Nike endorser after Michael Jordan (Farrell, Kathleen A. et al.). With the two hottest sport celebrities endorsing your sneakers to wear, it will give the general public a thought that if they wear what the greatest athletes are wearing, it may also make them great too. With this strategy in mind, it helps Nike generate more sales than other brands. This method of using big named celebrities has helped Nike become the number 1 sneaker brand in the world.

Nike Company started in 1984, in Portland Oregon by Tinker Hatfield, a former pole-vaulter and architect. Hatfield worked his way into the shoe industry. He got his idea from Converse’s in the early 1970’s slogan, Limousines for the Feet. In Hatfield believe our culture have a lot of interest in shoes, just as much as our culture back in the 1950’s were interested in owning cars. They began introducing their Nike shoes and products to the society by images of people and things like the production of the Nike Air Jordan. This product was named after Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan is the best basketball player and biggest star at that time. In advertisement, Michael Jordan would show us a quick lay up to the goal

In one of their commercial they covered with this voiceover: “On Sept 15, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe, on October 18th, the NBA threw them out of the game. Fortunately, the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them.” The “jumpman” logo was revealed in 1988, on the Air Jordan III, and is one of the most recognizable logo in the world. Since that time Air Jordan is still one of the most favourited sneakers for athlets along with parent company Nike. According to SportsOneSource.com and Forbes Nike had nearly monopoly in selling basketball shoes with 92% marketing share, secondly Air Jordan with 10,8% meanwhile Adidas 5,5% (2014). Thanks that Michael Jordan earned $90 million last year while already retired from the

The birth of nike came two problems of two people Phil Knight who was a former track standout at Oregon, He loved athletics and he didn't want to stop being involved. He wanted to make his living in the athletic field. The second problem came from Knight's former track coach Bill Bowerman.

Nike was founded under the name Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964. In 1972 the first pair of sports shoes was sold and experienced enormous growth and achieved a 50% market share within the sports shoe market in the US only eight years later.

According to the “Sweatshop Fact Sheet,” Tiger Woods is paid over fifty five thousand dollars a day to be their spokesman. Another famous person that is a spokesman for Nike is Michael Jordan. According to the article “Running Away With the Profits,” (Environmental Action, Academic Search Elite), Michael Jordan is paid twenty million dollars in endorsement fees. Big name sport teams advertise Nike to appeal to the common person.

Currently, Nike is one of the biggest manufacturers, suppliers and marketers of athletic shoes, sports equipments and sports apparels. The revenues for the year 2013 were reported to be about $25.3 billion.

Nike, Inc. has been the world’s leading innovator and provider in athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for 50 years. Their mission has been to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world; if you have a body, you are an athlete. Arguably one of the most innovative companies in the world, Nike has built its brand into an iconic world-class powerhouse that continues to dominate the market with no signs of slowing up. Nike’s marketing and advertising have been breakthrough, aspirational, and legendary over the years, featuring high-profile athletes and heroes.

Nike began as Phil Knight’s semester-long project to develop a small business, which included a marketing plan. This project was part of Phil Knight’s MBA course at Stanford University in the early 1960s. Phil Knight had been a runner at the University of Oregon in the late 1950s. His idea for his project was to develop high quality running shoes. He thought that high quality/low cost products could be produced in Japan and then shipped to the United States to be sold at a profit. His professor thought that Knight’s idea was interesting, but not much more than a project.