Nike

Nike started as a side hustle. In 1964, University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman and one of his former runners, Phil Knight, put in $500 each and started Blue Ribbon Sports, a company that did nothing but import Onitsuka Tiger running shoes from Japan and sell them out of the trunk of Knight's car at track meets.

Bowerman never stopped tinkering with soles. The story goes he poured rubber into his wife's waffle iron trying to build a better tread, ruined the iron, and walked away with the pattern that became the Waffle Trainer. That shoe is part of what let Blue Ribbon Sports break away from Onitsuka and launch its own brand in 1971.

The name Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory, beat out "Dimension Six" by one vote in a company meeting. The Swoosh came from Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student at Portland State, who was paid $35 for it. She got Nike stock years later, once the company could afford to say thank you properly.

"Just Do It" didn't show up until 1988, and the phrase is loosely tied to the reported last words of a convicted murderer facing a firing squad. Dark origin, world-conquering result.

Vintage Nike holds up as a real collecting category because it's honest. You can date a piece close to the year by Swoosh style, tag font, or box design. That's rarer than it sounds.

Dig through what's in stock: Footwear