Nike was founded by a track athlete (Philip Knight) and his coach (Bill Bowerman) at the University of Oregon in 1964. The company was created on the premise that they wouldn’t manufacture any of their products, they were just a distributor. By 1980, Nike had a 50% marketshare in the United States athletic shoe market and went public. Many companies followed Nike’s lead in outsourcing manufacturing, and this led to a lot of bad media in the 90’s when reports of labor abuses in contract factories poured into the news. Nike currently employs almost 800,000 workers in other countries that make their products.
Nike has now branched off into every type of sporting apparel and equipment that one can imagine. From golf clubs to sunglasses to baseball bats to skateboard shoes, they have consistently expanded their selection of merchandise while growing into a $16 billion company.
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