What was Nike’s original corporate name before it became Nike, Inc.?

Nike’s original corporate name was Blue Ribbon Sports.

Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman founded Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964 as a distributor of Japanese athletic shoes. The business initially focused on importing and selling footwear rather than manufacturing a broad in-house product line. It later developed its own Nike-branded shoes and adopted the Nike, Inc. name in 1971.

The company’s name change is often connected with the introduction of the Swoosh and the growth of Nike-branded products. Blue Ribbon Sports did not disappear from the company’s history; it represents the earlier stage of the business before Nike became its principal identity.

This history also explains why Nike’s earliest corporate story includes Japanese supplier Onitsuka Tiger, now known as ASICS, before the relationship ended and Nike pursued its own branded footwear.