A dimension that starts in 1971, when Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman tried to move from distributing Onitsuka Tiger to creating their own brand. After having worked with runners for a very long time, Knight and Bowerman knew how to create a product, but they didn’t know anything about creating a brand.
D/MS/X, NIKE’S PARALLEL DIMENSION
Nike debuts the D/MS/X collection with the new N110, a sneaker that advances what we’ll see in the next incorporations to the line; a rebellious spirit that plays with new incorporations and stays away from what’s expected from them. The designs seem to evolve from a parallel dimension in which small changes end up causing completely different results.
For the image side, they relied on Carolyn Davidson, a designer that had previously worked with them, but nobody really knew how to choose the name of the new brand. Between the proposals that never came to be were the Falcon, Bengal or Condor. Dimension Six was the name with the most amount of options for just one reason; it was the boss’s, Phil Knight’s, favourite choice. But nobody liked it.
The first sneaker was about to enter production and they still didn’t have a name. Nike’s first employee, Jeff Johnson, seemed excited by a last-minute idea, he had dreamed of the perfect name: Nike. It wasn’t only short and easy to remember, but it also had a clear link to sports, it was the Greek goddess of victory. Nobody shared his enthusiasm, but his idea was finally accepted. Nike wasn’t liked by all, but it was the least bad option.
