
These horrendous sweatshop conditions were featured in a report, which turned Nike into the poster-child for poor working condition. Nike, like many other brands, rented sweatshops in Asia, where employees were overworked and criminally underpaid. In the 90s, Nike was in a lot of hot water with the working conditions of employees.

Through it all, Knight told himself to “never stop.” The result of his perseverance is Nike, a multibillion-dollar brand worn by many of the world’s best athletes and recognized across the globe.You can call this lesson ‘read the fine print’. In the years that followed, Nike faced $1 million payments to creditors, dirty tricks played by competitors, the death of Prefontaine (a beloved Oregonian distance runner and Nike celebrity-employee), and many other challenges. Bowerman’s designs influenced many of Nike’s iconic styles, including its waffle trainers. When Onitsuka and Blue Ribbon became bitter rivals and parted ways, Knight was forced to begin producing his own shoes, which he ultimately called Nikes. Over the years Blue Ribbon grew into a thriving company.

That year he also partnered with Bob Bowerman, his college track-and-field coach Knight oversaw the managerial and financial end of things, while Bowerman experimented with shoe design.

In 1964 Knight began selling Onitsuka shoes in earnest throughout the West Coast. While in Japan, Knight met with executives at Onitsuka Tiger, a Japanese shoe company, which agreed to send Knight shoe samples to sell back in the United States. In addition to the challenges related to building a company, Knight also reflects on the challenges and triumphs he faced as a son, as a young man searching for his identity, as a husband, and as a father.Īfter completing undergraduate studies at the University of Oregon and business school at Stanford, Knight returned to his parents’ home in Portland, Oregon, in 1962, where he received a loan from his father to travel around the world. Shoe Dog is divided into 20 chapters, each one roughly corresponding to one year in Knight’s life.
