The Nike “Swoosh” is arguably one of the most iconic brand logos in the world. The company has popularized their brand over the years since they got started to a global phenomenon. Originally the swoosh was used on shoes; now you will find in on pretty much all of their products. It is important for brands to have an easily recognizable and attractive logo, and even more so for clothing brands. Last year alone Nike realized $27.6 billion dollars in revenue, so their is no debating how successful the company is. With their Swoosh logo at the forefront of the company, you wouldn’t believe how much the original design cost for the company to acquire back in the day.
Back in 1964 collegiate track star Philip Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman formed Blue Ribbon Sports. They started importing athletic sneakers from Japan from Onitsuka Tiger at low costs and selling them out of Knights car at various track meets. The shoes were popular among the runners that the sold them too, allowing them to increase the amount of shoes that they sold. This initial success was great, however they dreamed about selling their own shoes that they created themselves. In 1971 the started to phase out their relationship with Onitsuka Tiger and looked to create their own shoes themselves.
The company desperately needed a logo so they approached Carolyn Davidson, who was an undergraduate graphical design student at Portland State University. Knight apparently heard Davidson one day about how she needed some money for a painting class, so he offered her $35 dollars (about $205 dollars today with calculated inflation) to do some freelance work for him. She worked on a variety of logos for him over the course of a few weeks.
When Davidson presented her logos to Knight, he was not really impressed with any of them actually. However, he eventually decided upon the swoosh saying “Well, I don’t love it but maybe it will grow on me”. He paid her the $35 dollar quote and then registered the logo in January of that year with the U.S. Patent Office. The company would then begin its long road to success to becoming the multi-billion dollar company that it is today.
While the original price for the logo was pretty much nothing considering the company is so valuable, Knight would reward Davidson later on in 1983. He threw her a massive party, and gave her a gold ring with the logo on it in addition to 500 shares of Nike stock, which are worth around $640,000 dollars today.
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