Nike started in 1964 under the name Blue Ribbon Sports with founder Phil Knight selling running shoes at high school track meets out of the back of his car. A few years later, Nike made its first running shoe adorned with their soon-to-be-patented Swoosh logo. As legend has it, the first Nike shoe was designed with the help of the University of Oregon’s track and field coach Bill Bowerman, who used a waffle iron to manufacture the sole of the shoe.

They’ve clearly come a long way from the days of making shoes with a waffle iron. Go to any sporting event in the world, and you’ll probably see athletes wearing Nike. Even as they’ve grown to the biggest athletic shoe company in the world, running has remained central to the brand as they sponsor many of the world’s top runners and continue to push the boundaries in shoe technology.