Nine years after its establishment, Blue Ribbon Sports was renamed as Nike Inc., one of the most sought-after sports brands. This happened in 1971 and since then, Nike bears the Swoosh mark which makes it one of the most recognizable logos.
The story of Nike starts in 1964. Bill Bowman was a track and field coach who was looking for ways to improve the performance of his students. Though he tried different ways to develop safe and comfortable shoes, he was not successful in his attempts. Around the same time, his former student Phil Knight suggested an idea to import shoes from Japan to compete with the well-established German brands. The duo started Blue Ribbon Sports, a retail shoe store that later grew to Nike Inc.
As the sales increased, they decided to manufacture shoes instead of just retailing them. Along with constantly improving the quality and performance of their shoes, they took the help of celebrities like Roger Federer to promote the product. Nike also managed to acquire several small companies and that furthered their success. Slowly they began to expand to other areas like football, golf and clothing. Clever investments and effective marketing along with quality have made Nike one of the most valued sports brands.
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