SPORTS COMPANY
SEPTEMBER 6, 2021
Evolution Of Reebok Company
The evolution of Reebok company began when Reebok was founded by brothers Joe and Jeff Foster in England in 1958. They carry on a family tradition of making athletic footwear. Joseph William Foster, their grandfather, had formed a company, J.W. Foster and Sons in 1895 developed one of the very first track spikes.
Although Reebok itself was established in 1958 the date foundation is set in 1895 when the family business began with J.W. Foster’s company. This company was later joined by Reebok in 1976.
The brand name Reebok was inspired by a species of African Antelope, Grey Rhebok. Throughout the 60’s and 70’s the company continued to produce running spikes from their England base. When Reebok was exhibiting at the Chicago International Sneaker Trade Show in 1979, Paul Fireman, an American outdoors gear wholesaler discovered the brand and he acquired the exclusive rights to license and distribute the Reebok brand in North America.
The division was called Reebok USA Ltd. Following the exclusive rights purchase, Fireman introduced three new shoes to the market and in 1981 Reebok reached more than $1.5 million in sales.
Reebok introduced the first athletic shoe designed especially for women in 1982 called the Freestyle. To promote the new model, the company took along Jean Miller, the founder of step aerobics and a famous athlete from United States.
With this innovation Reebok had a firm grip on trends that transformed the athletic footwear industry especially in aerobic exercise. Growth was enormous and Reebok became an industry leader with new product categories.
In 1984, Fireman bought the English-based parent company from Joe Foster and combined the American division and the parent company Reebok International into one company, Reebok International Ltd. In 1985, Reebok had its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange with ticker “RBK” and transformed from a private into a public company. Paul Fireman however retained 16% of the shares.
By 1986, Reebok was the foremost athletic footwear brand in North America. Sales in 1987 reached $1.4 billion in total. In 1988 that number had grown to $1.8 billion with 26.7 percent market of the athletic footwear market. At the end of 1980’s, Reebok sales were about $1 billion.
In August 2005, Adidas acquired Reebok as a subsidiary and maintaining operations under their separate brand names. Adidas completed the deal valued at $3.8 billion and replacing Reebok as the official uniform supplier for the NBA in 2006 with an 11 year deal. The German company was hoping this move would help the company take on Nike market more efficiently in the US region in the future.
Shortly after the acquisition, Paul Fireman – Reebok Chairman and CEO announced he was leaving the company and Paul Harrington replaced his place as the President and CEO of the Reebok.
Due to some financial struggles on February 16, 2021 Adidas announced their plans to divest the Reebok brand. On August 12, 2021, Adidas announced that Authentic Brands Group would be acquiring the Reebok brand from Adidas for at least $2.5 billion.
Today the company’s headquarters are located in Boston suburb of Canton, Massachusetts with regional offices in Amsterdam, Montreal, Hong Kong, Panama City, Shanghai, Singapore and Mexico City.
The company has developed many shoes for professional athletes and left remarkable footprints in aerobics, tennis, gym, basketball and football. Some athletes collaborated with Reebok including Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’neal, Venus Williams, Thierry Henry, Jay-Z, Gigi Hadid, and many others.
In pop culture scene Reebok sneakers appeared in the blockbuster movie Aliens (1986) where Sigourney Weaver character wore the powerful Alien Stomper sneakers shooting down fierce aliens.
Source : wikipedia, fitndstyle.com, fibre2fashion.com, grailed.com
related post