Nike is a word just about everyone knows. They've produced sports gear on the same level as Adidas and Puma has, but began much later. Actually in 1964 track athlete Philip Knight and the coach Bill Bowerman founded a business called Blue Ribbon Sports. These were both from the University of Oregon and their business started out as a support company of Asics, or Onitsuka Tiger because it was originally named. This name was changed in 1977 when Onitsuka Tiger merged with two other companies called GTO and Jelenk. But to Nike!
The first retail store arrived 1967 and also the profit grew fast. Blue Ribbon sports wanted to produce their own shoes. As well as in 1971 the launch from the first series was almost ready. The connection with Onitsuka Tiger was nearing its end, and thus were the name Blue Ribbon Sports. Nikes first shoe magista pas cher series ended up being to be called Swoosh. These footwear were designed by Carolyn Davidson a picture designer in the Portland State University. The Swoosh series became known worldwide, and was a huge success. Carolyn billed Nike 35$ on her design, and didn't leave the organization until 1983.
Blue Ribbon Sports officially changed name to Nike in 1978 and by 1980 Nike reached a U.S marked share of 50% on athletic shoes. The company launched their first TV commercial in 1982 which was throughout the Ny Marathon in October. It was also through the 1980s that Nike began to produce clothing's and other appeals were put into their production line. While their first products were running shoes, they'd now support a wide range of various apparels including shorts, jerseys for basketball, soccer, football and other sports.
Nike started to buyout companies, starting with the high-end shoe company Cole Haan in 1988. Hurley International was the following company to be added which happened in 2002. And in 2003 Converse Inc. was bought for US$309 million. Last company to become added was Umbro. Now Umbro was known to deliver soccer equipment throughout Europe, and was delivering jerseys for the English National team.
Today Nike is among the biggest sponsors for several the known sport stars. In Tennis they sponsor names like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Serena Williams. In golf they sponsor names like Padraig harrington and Paul Casey as well as in soccer; they sponsor the best national teams on the planet including Brazil, Portugal and France. Also teams like FC Barcelona and Man utd plays in Nike equipment and bring the organization huge amounts of value. However names like Jordan has probably been the best boost to the business within the 1980s.
But there have been bumps on their way to success. Especially human rights on the factories throughout the world have experienced issues. In the 1990s there were several accusations about child labor in countries like Pakistan and Cambodia. This wound up inside a documentary in 2001 by BBC with a concentrate on girls working Seven days a week and 16 hours each day. Nike still suffers from these accusations today like the majority of other big vendors who produce products in different foreign countries where it is difficult to watch the labors.
Nike has a large manufacture of great Soccer cleats crampon hypervenom and soccer gear in general which is often used in Major League Soccer and throughout Europe. Players like Christiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid and Zlatan Ibrahimovic from AC Milan plays within the Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly III which is a high-end soccer boot and in direct competition with the Adidas F50 AdiZero.