Everything you need to know about the Nike Cortez.
It’s pretty obvious that sneakers with a great story behind it live forever.
The Nike Cortez is one such sneaker with an amazing backstory that has lasted for over 46 years.
Before coming into existence as the Nike Coretz, there was a previous chapter to the story of this sneaker.
The American track and field coach Bill Bowerman, who later became a co-founder of Nike , worked on a running shoe named TG-24 together with the Japanese footwear company Onitsuka Tiger (Asics). In August of 1966, Bowerman ordered 300 pairs of the “TG-24 shoe designed by Bill Bowerman w/Mexico Line” (this was the name of the shoe lol) to be distributed in the US. The shoe contained everything that a runner at that time was looking for and it went on to become one of the best selling runners if that year.
Have you heard of ‘Blue Ribbon Sports’? Well if you haven’t, it was the name of Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman’s company before they decided to change it to “Nike”. This was an Oregon based company that imported these performance shoes from Japan to the US.
In 1967 ,Bowerman, who created this shoe (TG24) decided to change its name to a more market friendly name. So he came up with the name “Mexico”. This name was inspired by the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico.
After the year of the Olympics came, Blue Ribbon Sports and Onitsuka Tiger wanted better sounding and a more flashier name for the sneaker.
So they came up with the name “Aztec”. This name was based on ancient Mexican history and the Aztec Empire. But they soon got into some legal trouble as this name was too close to the Adidas Azteca Gold track shoe.
So Blue Ribbon Sports renamed the shoe as the “Cortez”. This name was allegedly chosen after Hernan Cortés who defeated the Aztecs. (In your face Adidas!)
The TG-24 Cortez became an instant bestseller and it went on to become the number 1 bestselling shoe in the history of Blue Ribbon Sports and Onitsuka Tiger.
On May 30th 1971, Bowerman and Knight changed the name of their company to ‘Nike’ and they featured their own line of shoes. They featured a shoe called the “Nike Cortez” which started a year long battle with Onitsuka Tiger over who gets the rights for the ‘Cortez' name.
In 1974, the court eventually ruled in Nike’s favor and Onitsuka Tiger rebranded their shoe as the “Tiger Corsair” (which is a popular shoe btw)
Nike’s leather Cortez retailed for $22.90 at the time.
However this leather Cortez was pretty heavy. Determined to develop the lightest shoe of all time, Bowerman switched from leather upper to a lightweight nylon construction and in 1974 the Nylon Nike Cortez was introduced as “the world’s lightest running shoe”.
Oh and there’s a women’s version of the Cortez named the Seniorita Cortez. This shoe became popular when it was featured in Charlie’s Angles.
During the early 1980’s the Cortez found many fans and followers among writers, breakdancers etc in NYC. And next, Weat Coast increased the popularity of the sneaker to a great extend. The rise of the LA rap culture brought the Cortez into the Hip-Hop world and it still remains an icon in that culture.
I’m sure all of you might recall the movie “Forrest Gump” from 1994. In the movie, Forrest received a pair of Cortez from his soul mate Jennie. It unlocks his magic stride that powers him to run across USA for 3 years.
The Cortez was also featured in the hit TV show Seinfeld, where it was a staple part of the protagonist’s uniform.
We’ve seen the Cortez collaborate with artists like Kendrick Lamar in more recent times. And the Nike Cortez Kenny III “Bet it Back” was released as his 3rd Nike Coretz collaboration just recently.
The Nike Cortez has gone through all these ups and downs and has solidified it’s position as one of the most iconic sneakers in the sneaker culture. And I have a feeling that it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
