Authenticate Nike | Legit App Authentication | Your Trusted Partner in Luxury Authentication | No. 1

Rubber-soled shoes were first mass-marketed as canvas top "sneakers" by U.S. Rubber, with its Keds® in 1917. But the elevation of athletic shoe manufacturing to both a science and a fashion was largely due to Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman of Oregon. In 1958, Phil Knight, a business major at the University of Oregon and a miler on the track team, shared with his coach, Bill Bowerman, a dissatisfaction with the clumsiness of American running shoes. They formed a company in 1964 to market a lighter and more comfortable shoe designed by Bowerman. In 1968, this company became NIKE, Inc. – named for the Greek goddess of Victory.