I’m Carter, I lead growth and operations at Handstand [a bit more on me here]. I grew up just outside of Portland, Oregon - naturally, Nike has been in my orbit and part of my life since day one (see below: “Dear Santa, please bring me a pair of Chicago 1s”). It’s an inspiring brand we discuss and think about often, so I decided to write about it. Excited to continue sharing more perspectives from different voices on the team.
Visiting Santa at Meier & Frank - Portland, OR
“When you see only problems, you’re not seeing clearly.” - Phil Knight, Shoe Dog.
We talk a lot about clarity at Handstand. When people ask what we do, our answer is simple: we help organizations see clearly. The process of going from unclear to clear is not a one-size-fits-all journey; it takes time, effort, the right people, and most importantly, acceptance that something - often what once worked - is no longer working. Uncovering and unpacking that something is step one.
In 1964, Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman founded Blue Ribbon Sports. Today, you know them as Nike. The vision was - and still is - simple: If you have a body, you are an athlete. Clarity of purpose (bringing innovation to every athlete) has been the north star for 50+ years.
In 1971, they saw a problem (opportunity?): Oregon's Hayward Field was transitioning to an artificial surface, and Bowerman wanted a sole that could grip without spikes. The obsession with running led Bowerman to take his wife's waffle iron into his workshop and experiment with rubber, creating a sole with a lightweight grip to increase speed. That focus & clarity turned breakfast into breakthrough - and the rest is, as they say, history.
Nike Waffle Trainer
The Waffle Trainer was extremely popular with runners. Off-court demand was a natural byproduct. Athlete first, lifestyle second. Nike’s running shoes were selling so well that annual sales kept doubling. Athlete-driven innovation clearly hit an aspirational lifestyle nerve. If I have a body, I am an athlete. And my shoes say so. The Swoosh meant go time, whether you were running to break a record or to catch the bus to school.
There are countless moments of Nike's athlete innovations leading to widespread cultural adoption. Air Jordan. Shox. Flyknit. FuelBand. Nike+. Each started with sport → solved for performance → and probably ended up in your closet. Somewhere, the winning formula of products going from on the track to off the track… got off track
Writer’s note: Nike has grown into a multi-billion-dollar, multi-national, complex organization with complicated supply chains and even more complicated shareholder expectations. I’m not here to make suggestions out of hubris that clarity is the only solution. I’m here to draw parallels - as a consumer, fan, and today, a commentator.
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