Shoe Dog: Young Readers Edition

Adidas is a footwear and athletic apparel company founded in Germany in 1924 by brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler. In 1949, the brothers had a falling out, leading Rudolf to establish the rival brand Puma. Adidas was the number one manufacturer of track shoes for much of the 20th century. Knight refers to Adidas several times in that regard throughout his work.

Blue Ribbon Sports is the name of the company operated by Phil Knight that was the forerunner to Nike. When Knight visited the Onitsuka Company in Japan in 1962 to inquire about distributing their athletic shoes in the United States, he was asked the name of his company, and he spontaneously replied “Blue Ribbon Sports” because he was thinking of his track awards in his room. 

The Cortez was Nike’s first track shoe, released to the public during the 1972 Summer Olympics. The Cortez was actually produced, however, several years earlier during the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics when Bill Bowerman collaborated with Onitsuka on its design.