‘Under the responsibility of Jack, Converse has shown an outstanding performance both in financial terms and in terms of growth’, said Eunan McLaughlin, president of Nike subsidiary networks.

‘Under his management Converse has recorded the first most profitable quarter in its history, which demonstrates the power and potential of the brand,’ he added.

He recalls that Jack Boys and Michael Spillane have closely collaborated on the growth strategy of the brand over the past two years.

Spillane has an experience of 25 years in the apparel industry and pret-aporter. He joined Nike in 2007 after holding number one positions at Polartec and Malden, as well as management positions at Tommy Hilfiger and Jockey.

“With the launch of the collection N7, Nike’s customers may become the agents of change. The profits made by buying them enable young Indians to flourish through sports,” said Sam McCracken, manager at Nike programs related to American Indians.

In 2007, Nike launched the Air Native N 7, a model of sneakers designed specifically for the indigenous population and better adapted to their feet width. Thus, the first pair of shoes ethnically friendly was born! And at the same time, socially useful. Nike is, in fact, promoting an active lifestyle among indigenous people, communities sensible to diabetes and obesity.

2009/11/20

The “Air Jordan 2010″ has been designed in collaboration with Michael Jordan and the shoe designers Tinker Hatfield and Mark Smith. These shoes will be officially launched in the United States on February 13, 2010 at the price of 170 US dollars (about 115 euros).

The first Air Jordan basketball was launched in 1984 and more than just sports shoes, has become a fashion accessory for all fans of the streetwear trend.
2009.11.20

In collaboration with Apple, Nike, manufacturer of products for sport, produced “smart” series of Nike+ shoes with a sensor which is able to measure a covered distance. Nike+ iPod Sports Kit includes a system to connect shoes Nike+ and the iPod player. A special receiver is connected to the player, which communicate with sneakers through the wireless channel. As a result, the player screen indicates the the information about covered distance, elapsed time and burned calories.

In the future, Nike will produce sports jackets and shorts with special pockets for wearing iPod. In the meantime, iTunes Music Store integrated a special section of Nike Sport Music. Owners of Nike+ iPod Sport Kit can publish their sporting achievements in online diaries (blogs) on Nike Plus website.

Nike+ iPod Sport Kit is available in the U.S. at a cost of about 30$.

Note that for Nike it is not the first experience with electronics manufacturer. Last year Nike Company produced sports MP3 player Nike Philips.

Nike+ Sport Kit, released two years ago with digital players Apple iPod Nano, has finally been improved to the extent that it can be used with the iPhone and iPod touch.

Mark Wilson first said about this update to Stuff.tv, who discovered it during a Nike tour of the company headquarters in Oregon, during which he also managed to test different types of sport shoes, which manufacturer made specifically for the 32 Summer Olympic Games.

«The first news is that Nike + will enhance compatibility with the iPod Nano to the iPhone and iPod Touch, - he writes. - There is no surprise, but the interesting part and advantage, now both devices can be compatible with Wi-Fi (but for the iPhone, this means even more: a 3G – option) that allows on the way to change the list of songs for training ».

For existing Nike+, you should first connect your iPod Nano to a Mac or PC, download iTunes, and then visit the Nike+ website. With the new applications written for the iPhone and iPod Touch - probably using Apple iPhone SDK - users will be able to pass information through wireless directly to the web site.

With wireless function, it can be synchronized with Nike + Coach - a new option that appeared on the website Nike +. It creates a sense of working with a personal trainer on an individual schedule, based on programs Sport Kit: 5km, 10km, half or full marathon.

Released in May 2006, a $30 Nike Plus iPod Sport Kit for iPod Nano immediately won a huge success. In less than 90 days it has been sold more than 450 000 copies. Until today, it is believed that Nike and Apple have already sold over a million copies.

In fact, the response was so impressive that by early 2007, Nike sold more than 3 million Nike sport shoes compatible with Nike+. Thus, by the end of 2007, each pair of Nike running shoes supported this iPod technology.

Whatever the success, recently some presentations raised the question as at what speed Nike + iPod would move forward. In October, for example, Nike and Apple have become target of accusations concerning this technology.

In 8-pages complaint a sportswear company from Utah reported that it had patented similar technology in 1998 and then, after two years, told about this license to Nike. According to the lawsuit, a manufacturer actively denied interest in it at that moment to market a similar concept of Nike+ six years later.

Until now the biggest threat to the technology was Apple itself, which is busy developing a fully functioning digital sports coach, which is much richer in options than Nike+.

To learn more about Nike Plus visit: http://www.nike.com/nikeplus

Nike’s first professional athlete endorser was Romanian tennis player Ilie Năstase, and the company’s first track endorser was distance running legend Steve Prefontaine. Prefontaine was the prized pupil of the company’s co-founder Bill Bowerman while he coached at the University of Oregon. Today, the Steve Prefontaine Building is named in his honor at Nike’s corporate headquarters.

Besides Prefontaine, Nike has sponsored many other successful track & field athletes over the years such as Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Sebastian Coe. However, it was the signing of basketball player Michael Jordan in 1984, with his subsequent promotion of Nike over the course of his storied career with Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon, that proved to be one of the biggest boosts to Nike’s publicity and sales.

During the past 20 years especially, Nike has been one of the major clothing/footwear sponsors for leading tennis players. Some of the more successful tennis players currently or formerly sponsored by Nike include: James Blake, Jim Courier, Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Martín del Potro, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras, Marion Bartoli, Lindsay Davenport, Daniela Hantuchová, Mary Pierce, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams.

Nike is also the official kit sponsor for the Indian cricket team for 5 years, from 2006 to 2010. Nike was awarded the contract for US$43 Million.

Nike also sponsors some of the leading clubs in world football, such as Arsenal, Manchester United, FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Porto, Steaua, Borussia Dortmund, Red Star, Aston Villa, Celtic and PSV Eindhoven.

Nike sponsors several of the worlds top golf players, including Tiger Woods, Trevor Immelman and Paul Casey.

Nike also sponsors various minor events including Hoop It Up (high school basketball) and The Golden West Invitational (high school track and field). Nike uses web sites as a promotional tool to cover these events. Nike also has several websites for individual sports, including nikebasketball.com, nikefootball.com, and nikerunning.com.

Who could think so? Only innovator! Such attention to detail, the belief that you can always open up something new and previously unknown and one more technical advantage, all this provides the background for the creation of NIKE shoes.

More than ever, scientific research and technological development in the laboratories of the Nike Company offer new ways to improve existing products. Every element of creation of NIKE sports shoes is a fruit of continuous evolution: reducing the weight of sneakers, developing new concepts of footwear comfort, leaving apart the traditional design, using modern materials and systems, continuous improvement of production.

NIKE Cushioning

The main tasks of cushioning are as follows:

- Reducing the shock impact
- The distribution of peak pressure on the maximum area
- Total protection against the harmful effects of shock impact
- Ensuring the overall comfort.

Nike has invested in finding the ways to meet all these requirements more money and research resources than any other sportswear company in the world!

NIKE AIR

Resistant to wear. Multilateral. Revolutionary.

Nike Air technology was first used in the air as a buffer, invented in the laboratories of NIKE, and it drastically changed all that humanity was aware of cushioning: the capsule with compressed air for the first time begun to apply to sports shoes as a shock absorber. And the system sets the standard for all cushioning systems up to date, even more than 20 years after its invention.

Max Air

Maximum protection from shock impacts.

The brutal, repetitive, peak impacts, which the body is getting during practising professional sports, have a negative impact both on the human body, and on sportive results. The system depreciation Max Air was created specifically to reduce these impacts and provide maximum protection. Nike Max Air is ready to take the hit on itself!

Zoom Air

The system depreciation Zoom Air - an upgraded technology NIKE AIR, is using 3D fiber inside NIKE AIR cushions to create a low streamline shape.

Unprecedented cushioning:
- Zoom Air cushioning is incredibly elastic
- Zoom Air is created using elastic fibers based in the air-filled cushion
- A combination of elastic fibers and compressed air creates an improved absorption during the impact on surface and high returns
- A flat surface, streamline and low shape of Zoom Air cushioning increased the resistance
- Small size allows to gain high-performance cushioning without increasing the height of the underside.

NIKE SHOX

Revolution of mechanical cushioning and protection of shock impacts

Nike Shox technology provides optimal conditions for amortization, reduces the growth of impact at its peak increase (which reduces the risk of related injuries) and gives a unique feeling of full and quick-return energy. Extremely elastic material, used in design of Nike Shox columns, provides excellent absorption and increased durability of the system.

The first shoes to use the Shox technology were introduced in late 2000, the R4 runner, the BB4 basketball shoe, and the XT4 cross-training shoe.

Nike claims that Shox not only absorb impact from heel strike while running; they also “spring back” and add more power to a runner’s stride.

The newer Shox series is compatible with Nike+ technology. The Nike Shox Saya+ is the most recent Shox with this feature.

Athletes that are notable for wearing shoes with Shox technology include Vince Carter, Jermaine O’Neal, David M. West and Carlos Boozer. Some of Nike’s best selling shoes include Shox, like the Shox NZ and Shox Turbo, which still release in different colors. These shoes can be found for customization on NikeID, Nike’s online shoe customizing site. There are numerous options like different colors and materials for the Shox, along with custom tags on them.

Some of Nike Shox @ eXpokos

Nike Shox R4 043 Price: 72.49 USD

Nike Shox R4 042 Price: 72.49 USD

Nike Shox R4 041 Price: 72.49 USD

Nike’s basketball shoe line was fairly popular in the skateboarding scene, and the Dunk soon became a popular shoe for skaters due to the stability and lower profile sole which improved grounding performance. After some time, Nike created a Dunk specifically for skateboarders, known as the Nike SB Dunk. It features an extra-padded “puffy tongue” (common among skateboarding sneakers) and Nike’s patented Zoom Air insole. Since then, the SB Dunk has become a popular icon for enthusiastic sneaker-collectors, and has hit the street wear fashion scene. Nike currently collaborates with many designers to create special edition and collectible Dunks.

Some of Nike Dunk @ eXpokos:

Nike Dunk Low 093 price: 77.29 USD

Nike Dunk Low 089 price: 77.29 USD

Nike Dunk Low 086 price: 77.29 USD

Collectors classify the Air Jordan line by release year and model: Originals (OG), Retros, Retro-pluses (Retro +), Player Exclusive (PE) and Samples. The Jordan Brand also produces a line of Team shoes, separate from the signature line of Air Jordan shoes. Every year the Jordan Brand reintroduces one signature pair of shoes that was previously created. Only one style is re-introduced per year but can be re-introduced in different colour schemes. The Jordan Brand also releases shoes for only one day so that the shoe has more value and the retro idea does not fade in popularity.

The introduction of the Air Jordan 1 turned the athletic shoe industry upside down. Before the Air Jordan 1, most basketball shoes were white, but the bold black and red styling of the Air Jordan 1 flouted this convention. The NBA banned the shoe from the league in response, but Michael Jordan wore them anyway, racking up serious fines of up to $5000 a game. Nike, of course, was more than happy to pay these to keep the shoes in the game and in the public eye. All this controversy and Jordan’s spectacular performance that year served to put the Air Jordan line on the road to becoming a household name.

Some of Nike Jordan @ eXpokos:

Air Jordan 23 006 Price: 79.69 USD

Air Jordan 23 005 Price: 79.69 USD

Air Jordan 23 004 Price: 79.69 USD