Shane Parrish

blue shoes and blue jeans that's the moment nike stopped being a running company and started becoming a lifestyle brand they weren't just selling performance anymore they were selling identity they also realized the power of athlete endorsements and then as in now they went after the best

They landed Steve Prefontaine.

At the time, Pre had every American record from 2,000 to 10,000 meters.

He was brash, rebellious, and utterly devoted to the sport.

He didn't just wear Nike.

He was Nike.

Phil Knight later called him the soul of Nike.

But when Pre died in a car accident in 1975, at just 24, the company was devastated.

But his spirit became part of their DNA.

There's a building at their campus today named after him, and even a statue.

And at the end of the 1970s, Nike sales hit $270 million.

They'd captured half of the American athletic shoe market.

They'd passed Adidas in the United States.

A handshake and $1,000 had turned into the biggest name in American sports.

But growth created its own problems.

The bigger they got, the more cash they consumed.

And the more cash they consumed, the more vulnerable it became to forces beyond its control.

Just when Nike found its footing, its competitors found a weapon.

The established American shoe companies had watched this upstart from Oregon eat their market share for a decade.

They couldn't beat Nike on product, and they couldn't beat them on price, so they went to Washington.