Nike – One of, if not the worldwide giant in the sportswear scene, has an illustrious history with some facts that might come as a surprise. Keep reading for 11 things you probably didn’t know about Nike. If you have any other facts let us know in the comments box below.

1. The brand was originally conceived by founder Phil Knight as part of a graduate college assignment

Knight, at the time a business student at Stanford, wrote a paper positing that footwear manufactured in Japan could be of similar quality to the European-made sports shoes at the time, at a fraction of the cost. The proposition became a reality when Knight partnered with his former University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman, himself an amateur shoe designer.

2. They were originally called Blue Ribbon Sports, and made their money importing Onitsuka Tigers running shoes

Knight and Bowerman went 50-50 on investments to start the fledgling company in 1964, importing the Japanese-made running shoes. Bowerman made modifications of his own to the designs, and Knight sold them out of the back of his car at track meets across the Pacific Northwest. By 1969, the job proved lucrative enough for Knight to start working at Blue Ribbon Sports full time.

3. Bill Bowerman experimented with some pretty exotic materials for his first prototypes, including kangaroo leather, velvet and fish skin

Prior to forming Blue Ribbon, Bowerman had been experimenting with creating a better running shoe. Having been taught the basics by a local cobbler, Bowerman set about shaving precious ounces from the heavy, uncomfortable designs available in America at the time, using students – Knight included – as his guinea pigs.

4. The iconic Swoosh design cost the brand just $35

As the brand grew, Knight’s entrepreneurial side identified the need for a recognisable logo. In 1971, he reached out to Carolyn Davidson, a student at Portland State University, where he had been teaching some accounting classes. She agreed to make up several designs, including a ‘checkmark’ design. While Knight didn’t initially like the design, he needed something to present to visiting Onitsuka executives, and so the Swoosh was born.

5. They were renamed Nike at the suggestion of their first employee

To fit with their new logo, Knight decided the company was due for a name change. Knight favoured the name Dimension 6, which was thankfully axed. The first full-time employee the brand hired, Jeff Johnson, came up with the name Nike, after the Greek winged goddess of victory. As with the Swoosh, Knight wasn’t keen on the name at first, but looming manufacturing deadlines forced him into a quick decision.

6. The Cortez was a modified Onitsuka Tiger product

One of Nike’s most famous and popular designs to this day, the Cortez actually predates the Nike name. Bowerman had continued researching designs for comfortable distance-running or jogging shoes, and sent the now-iconic design for the Cortez to Onitsuka, who began manufacturing it. Once the name change to Nike happened, the Cortez design carried over – unbeknownst to Onitsuka, who only found out about it when a visiting executive found pairs hidden in the back room of a warehouse!

7. The game-changing ‘waffle’ sole was prototyped in an actual waffle iron

Ever the innovator, Bill Bowerman, was seeking a way to make a shoe tread to provide excellent traction on a variety of running surfaces, without the need for spikes. As the story goes, he was at breakfast one morning with his family, when his eye was caught by the indentations in his waffles. He decided that, inverted, their shape and size might be just what he was looking for, so he promptly decided to try filling the family waffle iron with urethane. Unfortunately his first attempt resulted in the death of said waffle iron, but the idea stuck, and Nike still uses variations on this sole design today.

8. Advertisements for the Air Max were the first to use a Beatles song – and the band weren’t happy

Nike decided that its revolutionary 1987 Air Max shoe needed a suitable song for its advertising campaign; what better tune than the Beatles’ seminal Revolution? But the band themselves weren’t happy, with a representative claiming that they “don’t sing jingles to peddle sneakers, beer, pantyhose or anything else”, and attempted to sue the brand for $15m. Nike, true to its rebellious form, ignored the threats and kept the ads running until late in 1988, while the heated legal battle was still raging.

9. The Just Do It slogan was inspired by the execution of a convicted murderer

When one of the advertising executives in charge of Nike’s 1987 campaign, Dan Wieden, needed inspiration for a new slogan, it came in a rather unusual form: a news report about the execution of Gary Gilmore, a convicted Utah murderer, whose final words were “Let’s do it”. Wieden recalled these words a decade later and tweaked them slightly, resulting in one of the most memorable advertising slogans of all time.

10. Nike has a group of evangelical brand ambassadors known as EKINs

Taking their name from the brand’s spelled backwards, EKINs are travelling brand experts, going to distributors and stores across the globe to educate and spread the word about Nike product launches and their stories. Phil Knight himself was the first of these EKINs, and, like a significant proportion of them, has a Swoosh tattoo to cement dedication and loyalty to the brand.

11. Design legend Tinker Hatfield also designed Marty McFly’s hoverboard shoes from Back to the Future II

Designer of many of Nike’s most iconic 80s and 90s styles, including the Air Max 1, Air Max 90 and Huarache, not to mention the Air Jordan III to XV, Hatfield was tapped by Hollywood to create futuristic footwear for both Marty McFly and Batman in the 1989 film. Nike actually released the Back to the Future Air Mag self-lacing sneakers in 2015, which remains one of their most sought-after models ever.

If you enjoyed that, why not give our 11 things you didn’t know about adidas blog post a read. As always please feel free to leave a comment below and we will get back to you.