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Nike

A 24-year-old walked into a Japanese shoe company and, by his own account, made up a company on the spot. That bluff became Nike.

Runtime
12:09
Chapters
8
Spans
1958 – 1988
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the bluff? his own account.

his wife's wedding present06:53

The odd beginning

It started with

a ruined waffle iron.

In 1962, a 24-year-old from Oregon walked into a Japanese shoe company, got asked who he worked for, and (by his own account) made up a company on the spot. That bluff became Nike.

The odd beginnings behind the biggest sports brand on Earth: a homework assignment, a handshake with a grumpy coach, a car trunk full of shoes, a ruined waffle iron, a $35 logo nobody loved, a bank that (Knight says) called the FBI, and a rookie who wanted to sign with adidas.

Frames from the film

Batter poured into a round waffle iron, seen from above.
Batter poured into a round waffle iron, seen from above.
A sea of shoe boxes stretching to a sunset horizon.
A sea of shoe boxes stretching to a sunset horizon.
A sketch of the swoosh pinned to a drawing board with a $35 price tag.
A sketch of the swoosh pinned to a drawing board with a $35 price tag.
A single running shoe under two spotlights.
A single running shoe under two spotlights.

Chapters

  1. 00A Company That Didn't Exist0:00
  2. 01The Bluff1:08
  3. 02The Trunk3:10
  4. 03The Breakup4:53
  5. 04The Waffle Iron6:31
  6. 05The Bank8:09
  7. 06The Rookie9:29
  8. 07The Verdict10:50

A note on accuracy

Several famous parts of this story come only from Phil Knight's memoir, Shoe Dog (2016): inventing the name "Blue Ribbon Sports" in the meeting, the look inside an Onitsuka executive's briefcase, Jeff Johnson's dream, and the bank calling in the FBI (no charges were ever filed). The film says so. Nike's own archive dates the waffle iron to 1970 in one article and 1971 in another, so the film says "around 1970". The NBA's 1985 letter was about a different Nike shoe, the Air Ship, not the first Air Jordan. Dialogue is dramatised.

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Sources

16 cited
  1. 01Nike Archives: The Handshake That Started It All (2025)
  2. 02Nike Archives: Bill Bowerman, Nike's Original Innovator (2024)
  3. 03Nike: Air Jordan "Banned" history (2025)
  4. 04Nike FY2026 results
  5. 05Carolyn Davidson to ESPN (2016)
  6. 06Portland State University: Legendary by Design
  7. 07Stanford GSB: Phil Knight
  8. 08Dezeen: Dan Wieden on "Just Do It" (2015)
  9. 09Christian Science Monitor (1982): Nike passes adidas in the US
  10. 10AP obituary of Bill Bowerman (1999)
  11. 11Al Jazeera (2019): Moon Shoe auction
  12. 12History.com: the waffle-sole patent
  13. 13Biography.com: what Air gets right about the Jordan deal
  14. 14International Directory of Company Histories: Nike, Inc.
  15. 15Phil Knight, Shoe Dog (Scribner, 2016)
  16. 16J.B. Strasser & L. Becklund, Swoosh (1991)

Nike, adidas, Puma and Reebok are trademarks of their respective owners. Logos are shown for identification only. This is an independent documentary, not affiliated with or endorsed by any of these companies.

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