500
What appliance was imperative in the innovation of the first Nike shoes?
The first Nike shoes were made inside a waffle iron. Bowerman’s first eureka moment for footwear innovation came in 1971 when he and his wife were making waffles for breakfast: it sparked an idea for a grooved pattern on the sole of trainers to help athletes grip running tracks. It spawned the “Nike Waffle Trainer,” which was patented in 1974 (at the expense of his wife Barbara’s waffle iron), Nike explains on its press site.