It’s official. The rarest Nike sneakers ever, ‘The One Line’ sneakers, will be going up for auction from April 7 - April 20th over at Heritage Auctions if you want to bid on these historic Nike produced bootleg grails. For a complete history of this mostly unknown Nike manufactured sub-brand you can see our detailed story here.
You can also read about them at Complex, Hypebeast or InputMag.
ITEM DESCRIPTION:
THE GREATEST NIKE STORY YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF:
NIKE BOOTLEGGED THEIR SHOES, DEFEATED THE GOVERNMENT
In the 1970’s Nike was locked in a life and death battle with U.S. Customs over import tariffs which nearly put the brand out of business. To fight back Nike created a fake sneaker brand called ‘The One Line’ which was sent into US Customs as a phony ‘competitor’ to trick Customs into lowering Nike’s tariff bill...and it worked. This brilliant move was conceived by Nike co-founder Phil Knight and helped to prevent Nike from going out of business. In the end Nike saved millions of dollars, won the battle with the government and was able to launch their IPO to become the biggest athletic brand in the world.
Nike’s “The One Line” shoes are one of the most noteworthy pieces of Nike’s history. These ultra rare historic Nike grails capture the early spirit of the world’s leading athletic brand and symbolize the ‘Just Do It’ mentality. These unique pieces of Nike’s history and are going up for sale by auction at Heritage Auctions between April 7-20, 2022. Please visit www.HA.com/theoneline for more details.
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 & Treasury departments.
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 1970’s and 80’s.
The original One Line shoes were conceived in mid-1979 and began production in 1980.
Made in China: “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.
“If we lost...it's very unlikely there's a Nike today, and we knew that.” -Phil Knight, Nike co-founder
These rare and unique pieces of Nike history and will be up for auction at Heritage Auctions between April 7 - April 20.
