The Interesting Story Of Nike, Its Logo, And The Founder

• When quizzed about American entrepreneurs who went on to create big corporations and became billionaires,
• which names pop in your mind? Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg, isn’t it?
• These are guys who’ve all been in the news and hogged the limelight.
•   Then there are others who belong to the same league but have maintained a low profile. One such man is the founder of Nike,
• a brand that most definitely occupies a corner of your home (Either you or a family member owns a pair of Nike).
• Nike as you know today is an international brand valued at over USD 30 billion.
• But do you know how Nike’s journey started and who’s behind the success of Nike?
•   The man behind Nike is one of the most exceptional American entrepreneurs named Phil (Philip) Knight.
• He was born in Portland, Oregon to Bill Knight and his wife, Lota Knight. Bill was a lawyer turned newspaper publisher.

•   Phil attended school at Portland and later went to the University of Oregon to complete his degree in journalism.
• He started working for the Oregon Daily Emerald and would run his way to work and back, 14 miles every day.
• At university, Phil had observed his athletics coach tweaking the students’ running shoes and how it improved the performance on the track.
• That’s where his idea was born.
•   Phil was convinced that it was better to import running shoes from Japan rather than from Germany because of the low cost of labor.
• He set out for Japan and worked out a deal with a Japanese manufacturer and convinced them to
• give him the exclusive importing and selling rights for western America.
• And that’s how the earlier avatar of Nike called “Blue Ribbon Sports” was born.

 

•   Phil did not have it easy. Although he managed to create demand for the sports shoes and sales picked up,
• he struggled with managing finances and delayed shipments.
• He even had to get out of his relationship with the manufacturing company due to disagreements.
•   That was a testing time for Phil as he already had 45 employees by then. From finding new manufacturers to renaming and rebranding the company,
• Phil had to kind of make a fresh start. This is when based on one of his employees’ suggestion they renamed the company to Nike (The Greek goddess for victory).
• Ironically at the time Phil was not thrilled about the new name and agreed reluctantly.
• To get the famous hockey-stick shaped logo (Swoosh) designed, they paid a mere USD 35 to a designer
• (Apparently later Phil gave her shares of the company when the company went public).
•   Phil continued to grow the company’s sales and revenues till they came to a stage when he and his management decided to take the company public.
• The rest, as they say, is history.
•   With his hard work and leadership skills, Nike went on to become the most prominent sportswear brand in the world
• and making Phil the 28th richest person in the world with a personal net worth of USD 34.7 Billion.

 

• After serving the company as its CEO and Chairman Phil passed on the Baton to Mark Parker.
•   Phil is a philanthropist, having donated more than USD 2 Billion in charity.
• His is one of the greatest and inspiring stories of chasing his dream despite the challenges.
• Next time you put on those Nike sneakers, do remember this blog. You will have a great jog!
•   If you liked the story, do leave some claps and follow me on medium for more such interesting stories.
•   Pic courtesy — Pixabay