Two homegrown Oregon companies are producing progeny — in the form of products that contain genetic DNA from both parents.
Nike and the Pendleton Woolen Mills are expanding their demographic reach with collaboration on such things as a blanket and design-your-own sneakers. In the NIKEiD Pendleton shoe collection, some of Nike’s popular shoe styles meet the woolen mills’ most fashionable wool designs. It’s a little like the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercial (“You got your peanut butter on my chocolate!” “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!”) — except with sneakers and wool.
The styles vary from high-top to low-top and include a skateboarding shoe. Buyers can mix and match as they design their own footwear. Depending on the style, one can select such things as wool pattern, the colors of swoosh, lining, outsole, sidewall, laces and eyelets — and something to imprint on the shoes as identification. With some of the styles, the distinctive blue Pendleton badge and the iconic Nike swoosh actually (gasp) touch.
Both companies hark back to humble beginnings in Oregon and now navigate nimbly in a worldwide market. Both are headquartered in Portland.
Nike’s beginnings germinated with a partnership between University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman and UO runner Phil Knight. Early on, Knight sold shoes out of the trunk of his green Plymouth Valiant. The woolen mills started in Pendleton in 1909 as a manufacturer of Indian blankets.
Besides sneakers, the two companies also collaborated recently on a blanket — the Nike PWM N7 blanket — with proceeds supporting Native American organizations. Nike supports the N7 Fund, created to inspire physical activity for Native American and Aboriginal youth in North America. Pendleton’s share of the blanket revenue goes to the American Indian College Fund.
The Nike-Pendleton blanket deviates somewhat from the usual multihued blankets produced by the woolen mills. Nike’s Derek Roberts and his N7 Team designed the reversible blanket in black, white and heathered gray to create a pattern of arrows.
Roberts traveled to northeast Oregon to watch his creation come to life at the Pendleton mill. PWM’s Linda Parker accompanied Roberts and others on the Nike team to Pendleton. The designer reacted with pleasure to the sight of his blanket on the loom.
“It’s pretty fascinating seeing something you actually designed taking shape and coming off the loom,” Parker said. “He was grinning ear-to-ear.”
The Nike/Pendleton shoes are available for sale through Feb. 15, except for the Air Force 1, which isn’t available after Dec. 31. Prices range from $125 to $200. The 64-by 80-inch N7 blanket costs $298.
