Reebok was founded in 1958 in England by business brothers Jeff and Joe Foster. The Brand was originally planned to be called “Mercury”, however after copyright issues the name changed to Reebok, after the African Antelope, the Grey Rhebok (Richardson, 2018).
The brand grew rapidly, exhibiting at the Chicago International Sneaker Trade Show in 1979 whereby it was recognised from Paul Fireman, an American outdoors wholesaler who later acquired the rights to Reebok in North America (Richardson, 2018). Reebok competed intensely alongside Adidas and Nike in the early 1980s, through new technological advancements and rapidly changing designs it was unclear who was on top (Sneakernews, 2016).
Creative input based on consumers was included within the deal. Due to intense competition, initial growth was slow as Adidas and Nike explored new technologies. These proved costly as they focused primarily on their running-centric masculine business models, which failed to recognise a booming women’s aerobics industry (Warnett, 2020).
In 1986 Reebok superseded Nike, dominating domestic athletic shoe sales. This pushed technology to become a selling point, accompanied by “trash talking” commercials and aggressive marketing strategies (Warnett, 2020).
Reebok was bought by Adidas in 2006 which complemented its classic sports wear and also made it a stronger competitor against the worlds largest athletic shoe and clothing maker, Nike (Reuters, 2009).
References
Richardson, M., 2018. A Quick History Of Reebok. [online] Grailed. Available at: <https://www.grailed.com/drycleanonly/reebok-history> [Accessed 12 March 2020].
Reuters, 2009. Adidas Plans To Cut 3.4 Pct Of Reebok Workforce. [online] U.K. Available at: <https://uk.reuters.com/article/adidas-jobs/adidas-plans-to-cut-3-4-pct-of-reebok-workforce-idUKLF36220820090115> [Accessed 12 March 2020].
SneakerNews, 2016. The History Of Reebok Classic And How It Fueled Global Sneaker Culture – Sneakernews.Com. [online] Sneaker News. Available at: <https://sneakernews.com/2016/04/19/history-reebok-classic-fueled-global-sneaker-culture/> [Accessed 12 March 2020].
Warnett, G., 2020. The Almost Definitive History Of Reebok Classics. [online] ssense. Available at: <https://www.ssense.com/en-ca/editorial/fashion/the-almost-definitive-history-of-reebok-classics> [Accessed 12 March 2020].
Understanding Reebok 