Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve probably heard of Nike shoes and are familiar with their swoosh logo. These popular shoes are sold all over the world and are worn by children, men, women, and professional athletes. You’d be hard pressed to walk into any shoe store and not find a pair of Nike shoes for sale.

The original swoosh logo was originally designed in 1971 by a student studying graphic design at Portland State University. Carolyn Davidson was paid $35 for the famous design but some sources say that the co-founder of Nike, Phil Knight, later bought her a diamond ring engraved with the Nike logo and also an undisclosed amount of Nike stock after she left the company in 1983. It’s interesting to note that Knight originally wasn’t too impressed with Davidson’s work. He said, “I don’t love it, but it will grow on me.”

In 2008 Nike made a net income of $1.9 billion dollars. Not bad for a business that started with a couple of guys selling sneakers out of the back of their van. This is the perfect example of capitalism in action and what can happen if you set goals and work hard. As of late, the company has received bad press due to claims associated with poor working environments and human rights issues with workers overseas.

The name Nike comes from the Greek goddess of victory, and like many other successful companies, had a humble beginning. Philip Knight was a track athlete at the University of Oregon and joined up with his coach, Bill Bowerman, in 1964 to sell shoes out of their cars at track meets. At that time they called themselves Blue Ribbon Sports.

Blue Ribbon Sports started developing their own personal line of shoes in 1971. Before that they sold shoes manufactured and produced by a Japanese company. In the beginning they specialized in shoes designed for football and eventually began making other types of shoes. The Blue Ribbon Sports name was dropped in 1978. By 1980, fifty percent of shoes sold in the U.S. were Nike.

In the past Nike once owned rights to the Bauer Hockey and Starter sprots brands. It currently own numerous other sports apparel companies including Converse and Umbro. You can also still find Nike headquarters in the state of Oregon where it all began over 30 years ago.

Nike Shoes continue to be popular today among professional athletes, sports enthusiasts, and those just looking for a comfortable and attractive pair of sneakers. While Nike is often criticized by others for its mass appeal, I’m sure the co-founders would argue that success never comes easy.

What’s your favorite sports apparel? Oh, c’mon, you probably have a lucky BoSox hat or maybe an LA jersey that is your absolute favorite. Most people do.

Whether it is the colors or team spirit that is influencing the buying patterns, we may never know, but sportswear is still “in.” Remember back in the day when it was primarily hats/caps that were worn? Not anymore! There are shirts, tee-shirts, jerseys, caps, hats, and even accessories to go along with every sports team you can think of.

From coast to coast there is a wide variety of followers for any given team. You might see people with Chicago hats in Florida or you might see a Kansas NCAA cap in South Carolina. What it all boils down to is a combination of popular style and team spirit. There are plenty that fall into either category.

One sport that has always made a regular appearance in the apparel scene is soccer. There are millions of people following the top level teams and consider themselves die-hard fans that will always be up to date with the latest apparel. These people will eat, live, die, drink and breathe the sport.

There are few sports left out as the MLB, NCAA, NFL, and NBA all have lines of sports clothing available and believe me, it is being bought! Sports are big business in the US at any level.

Don’t think that the teams aren’t making money off of their licensed logos that adorn all of this sports apparel, because they do. More than that, though, is that the people have chosen a style. Wearing sports clothing is trendy, socially acceptable by most standards and popular. It is so popular that you would be hard pressed NOT to find a sports apparel store in any mall. More often than not there are several.

One thing that is fairly new is having the logos of the teams but not the colors. Maybe they did it to attract more women to wearing sports wear but there are a lot of pink shirts and hats out there with every licensed logo you can think of. Also, for a while, New York had this pale blue color on a lot of the clothing. Hats and tee shirts especially. That threw some folks for a while. The logo and the colors didn’t add up but somehow it all worked out.

Prices vary on the different sports wear that is available but all in all, it is pretty reasonable. Depending on where you shop, of course! Stores try to keep their racks and shelves stacked with the most popular and you can usually find all of the teams at specialty sportswear shops.

Game days are interesting. Everyone dons their team apparel for game day regardless of whether they are going to the game or not. You can see babies with tiny team cheerleader outfits on or grand parents with their tee shirts or caps proudly displaying their team spirit. Of course, some areas have more than one team so the population is divided. Still, team spirit is team spirit! There doesn’t seem to be much conflict though, as long as you are supporting one team or another. Of course that may not be the case when we are talking about, say, Boston and New York!

What’s new in Sports Apparel? Apparently, just that there is a lot more of it around! As it has been for a while now, wearing sports apparel is quite popular. Some people only wear the gear from one or two teams while others have an entire wardrobe full of every team and state in the nation.

It’s pretty interesting to see all of the different sports apparel that is available today. It’s also interesting to see all of the different types of people wearing them. What used to be a “man thing” has grown into a universal thing that has men, women, young, old and even babies donning sports apparel of all kinds.

People from Carolina to Los Angeles and everywhere in between are buying hats, jerseys, tee shirts and even sports related accessories. It seems everyone has a favorite team that they want to support. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be their local team! Take a look around some day while walking down the street or in a local shop. Notice how many people have on at least ONE item that is sports related.

One sport that has always made a regular appearance in the apparel scene is soccer. There are millions of people following the top level teams and consider themselves die-hard fans that will always be up to date with the latest apparel. These people will eat, live, die, drink and breathe the sport.

There are few sports left out as the MLB, NCAA, NFL, and NBA all have lines of sports clothing available and believe me, it is being bought! Sports are big business in the US at any level.

Don’t think that the teams aren’t making money off of their licensed logos that adorn all of this sports apparel, because they do. More than that, though, is that the people have chosen a style. Wearing sports clothing is trendy, socially acceptable by most standards and popular. It is so popular that you would be hard pressed NOT to find a sports apparel store in any mall. More often than not there are several.

One thing that is fairly new is having the logos of the teams but not the colors. Maybe they did it to attract more women to wearing sports wear but there are a lot of pink shirts and hats out there with every licensed logo you can think of. Also, for a while, New York had this pale blue color on a lot of the clothing. Hats and tee shirts especially. That threw some folks for a while. The logo and the colors didn’t add up but somehow it all worked out.

What is important is that what the people want is sports apparel and that is exactly what they are getting. Whether your taste is more toward the traditional or the modern there is no need to worry because you will be able to find it.

Team spirit? Logo loyalty? Color craze? Who knows, but its working! The people are happy, the stores are happy and the sports franchises are happy. You even see the gear from teams you never used to see before, like the Tigers. Yes, they have been around for a long time, but you just didn’t used to see so many people wearing their clothing. Perhaps there will be more of that in the future. Athletic teams who have gotten little exposure before will suddenly be seen in all of the sportswear shops. How refreshing.