We describe how Blue Ribbon, the company that later became Nike, used track meets as an immediate testing and sales environment while importing Onitsuka Tiger shoes. The first 12 pairs moved through Phil Knight’s track network, a majority of the first 300 pairs came through track meets and word of mouth, and Jeff Johnson sold more than 3,200 Tiger pairs in his first year while keeping customer cards that informed product changes. After seven years, trust in the team helped Blue Ribbon navigate Onitsuka’s attempted control of the relationship and a transition toward its own products. [Read the original case](https://first1000.substack.com/p/-nike).

[Blue Ribbon Found Its First Customers at Track Meets](<https://www.first1000.co/blog/nike>)

Source observed: 2026-09-28T22:27:04.622Z. Last checked: 2026-10-19T01:22:13.704+00:00.

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