The Nike Files

Nike was thought of for a long time as strictly an athletic shoe and apparel company.  Today, that has changed a bit.  The change can be attributed to two acquisitions that Nike has made in the last fifteen years that have stuck. In 2002 Nike's acquisition of Hurley, a surf-style apparel company, provided us with a small signal of the direction that Nike was heading.  There was a higher demand for urbanwear, and the younger generation had no interest in, or loyalty to Nike.  The Hurley brand gave them the opportunity to reach that demographic.  This acquisition wasn't enough, though.  Nike wanted to give itself the best chance to reach these consumers, so they acquired a brand that may have the most iconic shoe in history – Converse and the Chuck Taylor All-Star® basketball shoe, first sold in 1923.  Nearly one-hundred years later, the shoe is still being sold.  The outward appearance is still pretty much the same, but the structural technology ...

Like other apparel companies, Nike participates in non-equity alliances with  many professional athletic associations.  These alliances come in the form of licensing agreements that allow Nike to design, produce and sell merchandise using the logos of the teams that are a part of that association.  In addition to the team and association logos, Nike also sells replica jerseys of the most popular players in those associations.  Definitely a smart way to boost revenues. Nike has taken these relationships a step further with the NFL and the NBA.  They have reached partnership agreements with each of these leagues to be the official apparel provider.  This means that Nike has the responsibility of providing each of the teams with game day uniforms for the players, and apparel for coaches, players and staff. As far as the NBA goes, Nike's move to be the "exclusive on-court apparel provider" has come with some changes that we've not seen in the NBA to date. ...

I'm sure Phil Knight had no idea that Nike would become the dominant force in the athletic industry that it is today.  He was probably confident that Nike would be a competitive athletic shoe company, based on early successes.  Nike's willingness to expand its offerings through the years has been a major contributor to its success. Today, Nike offers a full line of shoes and apparel for pretty much any sport that you can think of.  But  not all of the products are geared toward athletes. They have accepted the fact that most of the shoes that they sell are worn for fashion purposes.  This has led them to create special edition/limited release products designed by urban designers – allowing them to offer products to a segment of the population that may not have purchased Nike products before. Nike also made the move several years ago to offer a wide variety of sporting goods.  They offered equipment for baseball, football, hockey, and golf among many oth...