Nike/The One Line. "The One Line" Brand Running Sneakers (Blue/White), 1981. Oceania "competitor" sneakers consisting of...

Description

Nike/The One Line
"The One Line" Brand Running Sneakers (Blue/White), 1981
Oceania "competitor" sneakers consisting of nylon, leather, cotton, and rubber
Original Sample Size 9
Produced by The One Line

DISTINGUISHING FEATURES & ATTRIBUTES:

-The only known Nike manufactured shoes that do not say "Nike" anywhere on them.
-The One Line Shoes are featured in Nike co-founder Phil Knight's book "Shoe Dog."
-The One Line #1 finger logo tongue label was designed by Peter Moore, who later designed the iconic Nike Air Jordan 1.
-Made as fake "competitor" shoes to reduce Nike's tariffs by millions of dollars during their battle with the US Government's Customs department.
-The One Line Shoes copied Nike's popular shoe designs and were quietly released in small quantities.
-This model copied the Nike Oceania model running shoes from the 1970s and 80s.
-The original One Line shoes were conceived in mid-1979 and began production in 1980.
-"The One Line" brand was one of the earliest Nike manufactured products in China.
-This pair was manufactured in Tianjin, China.
-Inside heel collar print marking displays "SIZE 9 811101 TJ."
-Blue nylon upper with white single stripe logo.
-Symbols of the 'Just Do It' mentality.
-This is the only pair known to exist in the marketplace.
-This piece is final sale and not eligible for return.

"The One Line is a little-known, yet critical portion of Nike's history." - Complex

"One Line's sole purpose was to produce exact copies of Nike shoes made offshore that could be used by Customs to make comparisons rather than the higher-priced models by Converse or Brooks." -Swoosh by J. B. Strasser and Laurie Becklund

Nike's "The One Line" sub-brand of shoes are some of the most intriguing and exceptional artifacts in the history of the world's leading sports, leisure, and athletic brand. In over 40 years since "The One Line" brand was launched, only one pair has appeared at public auction. Nike co-founder Phil Knight conceived "The One Line" sneakers at a significant inflection point for the fledgling Nike brand. In the 1970s and early 80s, Nike was locked in a prolonged tariff battle with the US Government's Customs and Treasury departments that nearly put Nike out of business. The Government's Customs department used a Great Depression-era tariff law called the ASP (American Selling Price of 1922) to go after Nike by sending them a bill for $25 million. It stipulated the import tariff on a particular good would be calculated not based on the manufacturer's price of that good but based on the price of a similar American-made product. The bill was sent as back payment for sneakers imported from international factories years earlier that Nike could not afford to pay. Over the years, Phil Knight has described this as a "life and death" battle for his young Nike brand.

The tariff battle is featured widely in Shoe Dog, Knight's autobiography. "We launched a new shoe, a running shoe with nylon uppers, and called it One Line," Knight writes in his book. "It was a knockoff, dirt cheap, with a simple logo...Now customs officials would have to use this 'competitor' shoe as a new reference point in deciding our import duty."

Phil Knight and his team were inspired to create "The One Line" brand to gain leverage in their fight with the US Government. To fight back against the ASP law, Nike found an innovative and comical way to circumvent the rules-they sent a trojan horse into the U.S. Customs office in the form of a fake 'competitor' brand called "The One Line." Nike quietly created and manufactured the second brand of shoes which were generic knockoffs and copies of Nike's popular running shoe designs, though "The One Line" sneakers featured a single wide stripe logo. "The One Line" shoes were released in small quantities and did not feature any Nike branding or swoosh logos. Based on the ASP tariff law, the fake Nike shoes had to be "like or similar" enough to the real Nike shoes. As you can see in the photos, the design of this Nike 'One Line' branded running shoe was based on the popular Nike Oceania running shoes from the late 1970s and early 80s. In fact, the traction patterns of the two shoes are identical. And the plan worked. Nike was able to reduce its tariff burden and prevail in the fight with the government through a settlement. Once the cloud of the ASP battle had dissipated, Nike was able to launch their IPO and grow to become what they are today: the world's leading athletic brand. These ultra-rare and swooshless historic Nike 'One Line' grails no doubt symbolize the 'Just Do It' mentality and the desire to win at any cost.


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