Word: nike
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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When the jogging and fitness craze began in the mid-1970s, athletic-shoe manufacturers were dubbed "Adidas and the Seven Dwarfs." But by the early 1980s, while West Germany's Adidas remained No. 1 outside the U.S., fast- rising Nike dominated the American market. The company was started in 1972 by current chairman Philip Knight, 52, a University of Oregon graduate, and Bill Bowerman, 78, his former track coach, who used a waffle iron to make their first soles. (The now famous Swoosh trademark on the side of the shoes was designed by an art student for $35.) Nike...
...Nike faltered, Reebok galloped ahead. Beginning its life in the U.S. as a subsidiary of a British shoemaker founded in the 1890s, Reebok, based in Canton, Mass., is now a publicly held firm that owns its former parent company. Its mid-'80s success came from inventing and persistently exploiting the market for women's aerobic shoes, a shift in the business that Nike had completely missed. Reebok's revenues zoomed from $4 million in 1982 to $900 million...
This year Nike, which Knight has invigorated by decentralizing decision making and encouraging innovation, has gained a second wind with dozens of new models in 24 footwear categories. Nowadays any top contender in the industry must constantly upgrade its products (almost all of which are designed in the U.S. but made in Asia) just to stay in the race. Though industry analysts estimate that 80% of all sneakers are used for nothing more taxing than taking out the garbage, consumers want the illusion of having a competitive edge...
Shoe designers finely tune each category of shoe to its particular activity by studying human motion and physiology. Reebok's baseball shoes, for example, have a specially designed cleat pattern called SpeedSlot for fast starts and stops. Crafty Nike marketeers have also invented in-between products, most notably the cross-trainer shoe, designed for an all-around athlete. Cross- trainers offer enough lateral support for the sideways motions of aerobics and basketball but are light and flexible enough for jogging...
...cutting edge of shoe science, Nike and Reebok are engaged in a battle that is based on thin air. The Air Nike line of basketball shoes, which contain pockets of compressed gas in the soles to provide cushioning, became an instant hit two years ago when transparent plastic windows were added to show off the air cells. The most popular model is the Air Jordan (price: $110), named for Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan, who receives an undisclosed royalty for each pair of shoes sold. This year Reebok is fighting back with its Energy Return System, found...