Nike, Inc. facts for kids
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Headquarters near Beaverton, Oregon, U.S.
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Formerly
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Blue Ribbon Sports, Inc. (1964–1971) |
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| Founded | January 25, 1964 |
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| Headquarters | Nike World Headquarters Unincorporated Washington County near Beaverton, Oregon, U.S. (Beaverton postal address) |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Revenue |  US$51.22 billion (2023) |
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Operating income
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 US$5.92 billion (2023) |
| US$5.07 billion (2023) |
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| Total assets | US$37.53 billion (2023) |
| Total equity | US$14.00 billion (2023) |
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Number of employees
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c. 83,700 (May 2023) |
| Subsidiaries | Converse |
Nike, Inc. is a huge American company that designs, develops, makes, and sells athletic shoes, clothes, and sports gear all over the world. It's headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, in the United States.
Nike is the biggest supplier of athletic shoes and clothing globally. It also makes a lot of sports equipment. In 2022, the company made over US$46 billion!
The company started on January 25, 1964, as "Blue Ribbon Sports." It was founded by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight. On May 30, 1971, it officially became Nike, Inc. The name "Nike" comes from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.
Nike sells its products under its own name, plus other popular brands like Air Jordan and Converse. Nike also used to own other companies like Bauer Hockey and Umbro. Besides making sportswear, Nike also has its own stores called Niketown. Nike works with many famous athletes and sports teams worldwide. Its well-known trademarks are the "Just Do It" slogan and the Swoosh logo.
In 2020, Nike had 76,700 employees around the world. That same year, the Nike brand itself was worth more than $32 billion. This made it the most valuable brand in the sports business.
How Nike Started and Grew
Nike was first called Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS). It was started by University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight and his coach, Bill Bowerman, on January 25, 1964. The company began in Eugene, Oregon, selling Japanese running shoes from Knight's car at track meets.
In its first year, BRS sold 1,300 pairs of shoes and made $8,000. By 1965, sales grew to $20,000. In 1966, BRS opened its first store in Santa Monica, California. By 1967, sales were so good that BRS expanded to the East Coast.
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In 1971, Bill Bowerman had a clever idea. He used his wife's waffle iron to experiment with rubber. He wanted to create a new sole for track shoes that would grip well but still be light. This would help runners go faster.
Bowerman's idea led to the "Moon Shoe" in 1972. It got its name because the waffle pattern on the sole looked like the footprints astronauts left on the moon. Later, in 1974, the "Waffle Trainer" came out. This shoe helped Blue Ribbon Sports (which became Nike) grow very quickly.
By 1971, BRS decided to make its own shoes. They changed the company name to Nike. They also introduced the famous Swoosh logo, designed by Carolyn Davidson. The Swoosh was first used on June 18, 1971.
In 1980, Nike had become very popular. It held 50% of the U.S. athletic shoe market. The company then became public, meaning people could buy shares of it.
The advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy has worked with Nike for a long time. Dan Wieden, one of the agency's founders, came up with the famous slogan "Just Do It" for a 1988 ad campaign. This slogan is now known worldwide and is even in the Smithsonian Institution.
Throughout the 1980s, Nike started making products for many different sports and selling them all over the world. In 1990, Nike moved to its large World Headquarters campus in Beaverton, Oregon. The first Nike retail store, called Niketown, opened in downtown Portland that same year.
Phil Knight, one of the founders, stepped down as chairman of Nike in 2016. In October 2019, John Donahoe was announced as the new CEO. He took over in January 2020.
Companies Nike Has Bought
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Over the years, Nike has bought and sold several other clothing and shoe companies. This helps them grow and offer more types of products.
Nike Products
Sports Clothes and Shoes
Nike makes a wide variety of sports equipment and clothing. Their very first products were shoes for track running. The Nike Air Max is a famous line of shoes that Nike first released in 1987. Other popular lines include Air Huarache, which came out in 1992.
More recently, Nike introduced Nike 6.0, Nike NYX, and Nike SB shoes, which are made for skateboarding. Nike also makes cricket shoes called Air Zoom Yorker. These are designed to be much lighter than other brands. In 2008, Nike released the Air Jordan XX3, a high-performance basketball shoe designed with the environment in mind.
Nike's products include shoes, jerseys, shorts, cleats, and more. They make gear for many sports like soccer, basketball, track and field, tennis, American football, golf, and cross training. They have products for men, women, and children. Nike also sells shoes for activities like skateboarding, baseball, cycling, volleyball, and wrestling.
Nike also worked with Apple Inc. to create the Nike+ product. This device monitors a runner's performance using a sensor in the shoe that connects to an iPod nano.
Some of Nike's newer shoes use special technologies like Flywire and Lunarlite Foam. These materials help make the shoes lighter. The Air Zoom Vomero running shoe, first released in 2006, has a full-length air-cushioned sole and other features for comfort and support.
In 2023, Nike announced it would stop using kangaroo skins in its products. Instead, they will use a new special synthetic material. Nike says this new material works even better and is a more sustainable choice.
Street Fashion and Style
The Nike brand, with its unique Swoosh logo, quickly became a symbol of cool in modern urban fashion and hip-hop fashion. This was because it was linked to success in sports. Starting in the 1980s, many Nike clothing items became popular in American youth fashion. This included tracksuits, baseball caps, Air Jordans, Air Force 1s, and Air Max running shoes. These shoes often had thick, air-cushioned soles and bright colors.
Limited edition sneakers that were released early in certain areas were called Quickstrikes. These became very popular items for young people who collected sneakers, known as "sneakerheads."
By the 1990s and 2000s, teenagers started wearing Nike sneakers, leggings, sweatpants, and tracksuits with their everyday clothes. Popular items included the unisex spandex Nike Tempo compression shorts. These shorts were worn for cycling and running and later had a pocket for a Walkman or MP3 player.
From the late 2000s into the 2010s, Nike Elite basketball socks became popular everyday wear. These socks had special cushioning and helped keep feet dry. Later, Nike Elite socks came in bright colors and cool designs.
In 2015, Nike introduced a new self-lacing shoe called the Nike Mag. These shoes were replicas of the ones from the movie Back to the Future Part II. They were released in limited numbers through auctions, and all the money went to the The Michael J. Fox Foundation. This happened again in 2016.
Nike also has a special line called NikeLab. This line focuses more on streetwear fashion than on sports performance.
In March 2017, Nike launched a plus-size clothing line. This line offers new sizes (1X through 3X) for over 200 products. Another important update was the Chuck Taylor All-Star Modern. This was a new version of the classic basketball sneaker that used Nike's modern knitting and cushioned foam sole technology.
Collectibles
On July 23, 2019, a pair of Nike running shoes sold for $437,500 at an auction. These "Moon Shoes" were designed by Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman for runners in the 1972 Olympics trials. This was the highest price ever paid for a pair of sneakers at the time.
Virtual Products
Nike has also entered the virtual world. After buying a company called RTFKT, Nike launched the Dunk Genesis Cryptokicks collection. This collection includes over 20,000 NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). One design by artist Takashi Murakami sold for $134,000 in April 2022.
Nike Headquarters
Nike's main headquarters are located near Beaverton, Oregon. The company is planning a large expansion to its World Headquarters. The new buildings will be designed to be very eco-friendly, using natural light and a special water treatment system.
Nike's Environmental Efforts
Nike has been recognized for its efforts to be environmentally friendly. In 2007, an environmental group ranked Nike among the top companies for being climate-friendly.
Recycling Programs
Nike is also praised for its Nike Grind program. This program helps complete the product lifecycle by recycling old shoes.
Since 1993, Nike has run its Reuse-A-Shoe program. This program collects old athletic shoes of any type. Nike then processes and recycles them. The recycled material is used to create sports surfaces like basketball courts, running tracks, and playgrounds. It's estimated that 28 million shoes have been collected since the program started in 1993.
For Earth Day 2008, Nike launched a commercial featuring basketball star Steve Nash. He wore Nike's Trash Talk Shoe, which was made from leftover leather and synthetic waste from factories. The sole of the Trash Talk Shoe was made from ground-up rubber from a shoe recycling program.
Reducing Carbon Footprint
Nike tracks its carbon footprint, which is the amount of greenhouse gases it releases. In 2020, Nike reported its total CO2e emissions. The company plans to reduce its emissions by 65% by 2030, compared to 2015 levels. This goal helps support the Paris Agreement to limit global warming.
| Jun 2015 | Jun 2016 | Jun 2017 | Jun 2018 | Jun 2019 | Jun 2020 |
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| 286 | 300 | 327 | 301 | 305 | 317 |
Partnership with Newlight In 2021, Nike announced it was working with Newlight Technologies. They are looking for more eco-friendly materials for their sneakers. They are interested in Newlight’s AirCarbon product, which is a bioplastic. This bioplastic can replace materials like leather and plastic in shoes. The goal is to help Nike reduce its carbon footprint even more.
How Nike Markets Its Products
Nike promotes its products by sponsoring famous athletes, professional teams, and college sports teams. They pay these athletes and teams to use their products and help advertise them.
Advertising Campaigns
In 1982, Nike aired its first national TV ads during the New York City Marathon. These ads were created by the agency Wieden+Kennedy. The Cannes Advertising Festival has named Nike its "Advertiser of the Year" twice, in 1994 and 2003.
Nike has also won Emmy Awards for best commercials in 2000 and 2002. One ad, "The Morning After," was a funny look at what might happen on January 1, 2000, if all the Y2K predictions came true. The other, "Move," showed famous and everyday athletes doing various sports.
Using Music in Ads
Nike faced some criticism for using Beatles song "Revolution" in a 1987 commercial. They used it without the full permission of Apple Records, the Beatles' recording company. Nike paid $250,000 to Capitol Records Inc. for the right to use the song for one year.
Apple Records later sued Nike and other companies for $15 million. Nike stopped airing ads with "Revolution" in March 1988. Later, Yoko Ono gave Nike permission to use John Lennon's song "Instant Karma" in another advertisement.
Digital Marketing
Nike was one of the first companies to use internet marketing and email management to reach customers. They also used different communication technologies to create multimedia marketing campaigns.
NBA Uniform Deal
In June 2015, Nike signed an 8-year deal with the NBA. This made Nike the official uniform supplier for the league, starting with the 2017–18 season. Nike's logo now appears on NBA jerseys, which was a first for the league.
Nike Sponsorships
Nike sponsors many top athletes in various sports. These athletes use Nike products and help promote the company's technology and designs. Nike's first professional athlete sponsor was Romanian tennis player Ilie Năstase. The first track athlete they sponsored was distance runner Steve Prefontaine. Prefontaine was coached by Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon. Today, a building at Nike's headquarters is named after Steve Prefontaine.
Nike has sponsored many other successful track and field athletes over the years, including Carl Lewis and Allyson Felix. Signing basketball player Michael Jordan in 1984 was a huge boost for Nike's popularity and sales. His partnership led to the creation of the unique Air Jordan brand.
In the early 1990s, Nike started focusing on soccer. They signed endorsement deals with famous players like Romário and Eric Cantona. They continued to grow in soccer by signing more top players such as Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Kylian Mbappé.
Nike also sponsors many top soccer teams, including FC Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and Liverpool. They also sponsor national teams like Brazil, France, England, and Portugal.
Nike has been a sponsor for many top tennis players. Their success in tennis grew with deals signed with big stars like John McEnroe in the 1980s, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras in the 1990s, and Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams in the 21st century.
In January 2013, Nike signed Rory McIlroy, who was the number one golfer in the world at the time. This was a 10-year sponsorship deal worth $250 million. Nike also sponsors other top golfers like Scottie Scheffler and Nelly Korda.
Nike was the official uniform sponsor for the Indian cricket team from 2005 to 2020.
Nike strengthened its position in basketball in 2015 when it signed an 8-year deal with the NBA. This deal meant all NBA team members would wear jerseys and shorts with the Swoosh logo. After the success with Michael Jordan, Nike continued to partner with other big names in basketball. They have designed signature shoes for players like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
A news report from CNN stated that Nike spent $11.5 billion on marketing and endorsement contracts in 2018. Nike and its Jordan brand sponsored 85 men's and women's basketball teams in the NCAA tournament.
Nike Community Programs
The Nike Community Ambassador Program allows Nike employees from all over the world to help their local communities. Over 3,900 employees from different Nike stores have taken part in teaching children how to be active and healthy.
Images for kids
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Nike World Headquarters near Beaverton, Oregon
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Michael Jordan (pictured in 1987) helped drive Nike sales.
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Ronaldinho (pictured with Barcelona in 2007) appeared in a 2005 Nike advertisement that went viral on YouTube, becoming the site's first video to reach one million views.
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Nike Hypervenom 3 boots were commissioned for French prodigy Kylian Mbappé.
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Nike logo in the Camp Nou, the home stadium of Barcelona
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Ticket for the Nike International Tennis Exhibition, John McEnroe vs. Carl-Uwe Steeb, Munich (1989)
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See also
In Spanish: Nike para niños
