nike was previusly known as blue ribbon sports founded in 1964 by phil knight and bill bowerman. phil knight was a middle distance runner hailing from looking for ways to enhance his student's performance and tried improving their shoes in his free time.
he tried many different combinations but they were not very successful.in the mean time his student phil knight went on to complete his MBA in finance from stanford university. there he wrote an assignment suggesting the manufacturing of shoes in japan which would help retailers compete with the well established german brands