Brand history · Sneaker fans and the curious

The History of Nike: From Waffle Iron to Global Icon

Updated June 2026

Nike began in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports, founded by runner Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman to import Japanese running shoes. It became Nike in 1971, named after the Greek goddess of victory, with the Swoosh designed by student Carolyn Davidson. Bowerman’s waffle sole, the invention of Nike Air, and the 1985 Air Jordan turned it into the world’s biggest sportswear brand.

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Nike is so dominant today that it is easy to forget it started with a runner selling Japanese shoes from the boot of his car. The story runs from a University of Oregon track coach and his stopwatch-obsessed athlete, through a waffle iron, a twenty-dollar logo, and the invention of visible Air, to the Air Jordan that changed sport and culture forever. Here is how Nike became Nike — the people, the inventions, and the shoes that built the Swoosh into a global icon.

Nike icon	Era	Why it matters	Where to buy
Cortez	1972	An early hit and lasting classic	Check price on Amazon
Air Force 1 ’07	1982	First Air basketball shoe; best-seller ever	Check price on Amazon
Air Max 1	1987	The first visible Air	Check price on Amazon
Air Max 97	1997	Full-length Air and futuristic style	Check price on Amazon
Dunk Low	1985	College-hoops shoe turned streetwear icon	Check price on Amazon

Timeline

1964 — Blue Ribbon Sports

Runner Phil Knight and his University of Oregon coach Bill Bowerman found Blue Ribbon Sports, distributing Japanese Onitsuka Tiger running shoes in the United States.
1971 — Nike and the Swoosh

The company rebrands as Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory. Student Carolyn Davidson designs the Swoosh logo for a modest fee.
1972 — The Cortez

The Nike Cortez, an early running shoe, becomes one of the brand’s first hits and a lasting lifestyle classic.
1974 — The waffle sole

Bowerman’s experiments with a waffle iron inspire the grippy, lightweight waffle outsole that defines Nike’s early running shoes.
1978 — Nike Air

Nike introduces Air cushioning, using pressurised air units devised by engineer Frank Rudy, beginning the technology that becomes its signature.
1982 — Air Force 1

Designer Bruce Kilgore creates the Air Force 1, the first basketball shoe to use Nike Air — later the brand’s best-selling shoe of all time.
1985 — Air Jordan 1

Nike signs Michael Jordan and launches the Air Jordan 1, igniting sneaker culture and a line that becomes a business of its own.
1987 — Visible Air

Tinker Hatfield designs the Air Max 1, the first shoe to show the Air unit through a window in the midsole.
1988 — “Just Do It”

Nike launches the “Just Do It” slogan, cementing a marketing identity as famous as its products.

A coach, a runner, and a car boot

Nike’s roots are in running. Bill Bowerman, the legendary University of Oregon track coach, was obsessed with making his athletes faster, including by tinkering with their shoes. One of those athletes, Phil Knight, had the business idea: import well-made, affordable Japanese running shoes to undercut the German brands that dominated America. In 1964 they founded Blue Ribbon Sports, and Knight famously sold the shoes out of his car at track meets. That partnership — Bowerman’s craft and Knight’s commercial drive — is the seed everything else grew from.

Becoming Nike: the name, the Swoosh, the waffle

By 1971 the company struck out on its own brand. It took the name Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory, and a design student named Carolyn Davidson created the Swoosh for a famously small sum. Around the same time, Bowerman’s relentless experimenting produced one of Nike’s defining innovations: pouring rubber into his wife’s waffle iron to create a grippy, lightweight outsole. The waffle sole gave Nike’s running shoes a real performance edge and a distinct identity, and the Cortez became an early signature. The brand’s look and feel were set.

Air: the invention that changed everything

Nike’s biggest technical leap came from cushioning. In the late 1970s it adopted Air — pressurised gas units, devised by engineer Frank Rudy, sealed into the midsole to soften impact. At first the Air was hidden inside the shoe. The breakthrough in perception came in 1987, when designer Tinker Hatfield created the Air Max 1 and cut a window into the midsole so you could see the Air unit. Suddenly the technology was visible, and Air became both a performance feature and a design language that defined Nike for decades, spawning the entire Air Max family.

Basketball, Jordan, and culture

Two shoes turned Nike from a running company into a cultural force. In 1982 the Air Force 1 became the first basketball shoe with Nike Air, and after a brief discontinuation it roared back to become the brand’s best-selling shoe ever, woven into hip-hop and street style. Then in 1985 Nike bet on a rookie named Michael Jordan, and the Air Jordan 1 created a phenomenon — performance, rebellion, and status fused into a sneaker. Together with the Dunk’s journey from college courts to streetwear, these shoes made Nike the centre of sneaker culture.

From shoes to a global icon

The 1988 launch of “Just Do It” gave Nike a voice as recognisable as its Swoosh, and the decades since have layered on new foams, new icons, and a place at the centre of both sport and fashion. But the through-line never changed: performance innovation that crosses over into culture. The waffle sole, visible Air, the Jordan line, and the lifestyle classics all trace back to that original mix of a coach’s craft and a runner’s ambition. Today’s Nikes — from the Pegasus to the Air Max 270 — are the latest chapter of the same story.

The verdict

Nike’s rise — from Blue Ribbon Sports selling Japanese shoes in 1964, to the Swoosh and waffle sole, to visible Air and the Air Jordan — is a story of running-born innovation crossing into culture. The same icons that built the brand, from the Cortez to the Air Force 1 and Air Max, are still on shelves today, which is part of what makes Nike endure.

Who should skip this

If you only want a quick buying answer rather than the backstory, skip ahead to a specific guide — like the Air Max comparison or a sizing guide — and come back to the history when you are curious how these icons came to be. The history matters most when you want to understand why a shoe like the Air Force 1 or Air Max 1 is significant, not just whether to buy it.

How we chose

A brand history assembled from widely documented milestones in Nike’s story — its 1964 founding as Blue Ribbon Sports by Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman, the 1971 rebrand and Carolyn Davidson’s Swoosh, the waffle sole, the late-1970s adoption of Frank Rudy’s Air, the 1982 Air Force 1, the 1985 Air Jordan 1, and the 1987 visible-Air Air Max 1. Dates reflect commonly cited records; the shoppable icons are current catalogue models.

Frequently asked

When was Nike founded?

The company was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by runner Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman, initially to import Japanese running shoes. It rebranded as Nike in 1971, named after the Greek goddess of victory.

Who founded Nike?

Phil Knight, a former University of Oregon runner, and Bill Bowerman, his track coach, founded the company together. Knight drove the business side while Bowerman’s shoe experiments — including the famous waffle sole — drove the early product innovation.

Why is it called Nike and who designed the Swoosh?

The name comes from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. The Swoosh logo was designed in 1971 by Carolyn Davidson, then a graphic design student, for a famously small initial fee.

What was Nike’s first famous shoe?

The Nike Cortez, launched in 1972, was one of the brand’s first hits and remains a lasting lifestyle classic. The waffle-soled running shoes that followed cemented Nike’s early reputation for performance.

What is the best-selling Nike shoe of all time?

The Air Force 1, first released in 1982 as the first basketball shoe with Nike Air. After a brief discontinuation it was revived and went on to become Nike’s best-selling shoe ever, endlessly recoloured and tied to street culture.