Anyone who knows anything about the athletic world knows and understands that Nike is the best and they might as well be the second and third best too. Nike is the World Wide leader in sporting apparel, athletic footwear and equipment. Nike was started in 1972 by a pair of Oregon men, one being a track runner, Phil Knight, for Oregon University and the other being his coach, Bill Bowerman. These two men along with their employees forever changed the face of athletic footwear and apparel. Nike has grown from just being an athletic footwear distributor to becoming the world leader in all athletic apparel and sporting equipment as well. Along the way they have branched out and created or bought some other lines including, Hurley International LLC, Cole Haan, Converse Inc. and Umbro Ltd.
Since I am talking about Nike as a company, credit must be given to someone who does not seem to get much in regards to the growth of Nike.....Michael Jordan. MJ was Nike's first big name sponsor and to be honest there is not much of a need to go into it anymore than that. We all know who he is and what he did for basketball but just take a second to think of what else he did for the style of sports. Longer shorts...that was MJ. HighTop sneakers...that was MJ. Own line of sneakers...that was MJ. So if we are going to talk about the background and growth of a company, the leading and original sponsor must be noted.
Nike has one mindset and that is if you have a body your an athlete. They do not market to one specific group of people, they market themselves to the whole world. They have expensive lines and cheap lines. They make the most money but also give a ton of money away. Nike has been at the top for a while now and i do not see them going anywhere but up.
