Reebok

Reebok's United Kingdom-based ancestor company was founded simply because athletes wish to run faster. Therefore, in the 1890s, Joseph William Foster made some of the first known running shoes with spikes placed within them. By 1895, he was in business making shoes by hand for top runners; and before long his fledgling company, J.W. Foster and Sons, developed an international clientele of distinguished athletes. The family-owned business proudly made the running shoes worn in the 1924 Summer Games by the athletes celebrated in the film "Chariots of Fire."

In 1958, two of the founder's grandsons decided to begin a companion company that shortly came to be known as Reebok, named for an African gazelle.

In 1979, Paul Fireman, a partner in an outdoor sporting goods distributorship, spotted Reebok shoes at an international trade show. He negotiated for the North American distribution license and introduced three running shoes in the U.S. that same year. At $60, they were the most expensive running shoes to ever exist on the market.

By 1981, Reebok's sales exceeded $1.5 million, but a dramatic move was planned for the following year. In 1982, Reebok introduced the first athletic shoe designed especially for women; a shoe for a hot new fitness exercise called the aerobic dance. The shoe was called the Freestyle™, and with it Reebok anticipated and encouraged three major trends that managed to transform the athletic footwear industry: the aerobic exercise movement, the influx of women into sports and exercise and the acceptance of well-designed athletic footwear by adults for street and casual wear.

Explosive growth soon ensued, which Reebok fueled with product extensions - new categories in which it also became a leader. The Freestyle is now a "Classic" and is Reebok's best selling athletic shoe of all time. Reebok's performance aerobic shoes have progressed and remained successful through several generations.

Reebok's products are today available in more than 170 countries and are sold through a network of independent and Reebok-owned distributors.

Creating innovative products that are able to generate excitement in the marketplace has been a central corporate strategy ever since Reebok introduced the Freestyle shoe. In the late 1980s, a particular fertile period began with The Pump® technology and even continues today, with breakthrough concepts and technologies for a host of sports and fitness activities.

Reebok launched Step Reebok nationally in 1989 after conducting some comprehensive scientific and biomechanical research that showed that step aerobics was a highly credible and effective format for cardiovascular exercise. As a totally revolutionary and highly effective workout program, Step Reebok was also successful in breathing some freshness and new life into health clubs around the country. In its first ten years, Step Reebok became an international fitness phenomenon as millions of people in over 16 countries used the program in order to remain in shape.

In 1992, Reebok began a transition from a company identified principally with fitness and exercise to one equally involved in sports. It created a host of new footwear and apparel products for football, baseball, soccer, track and field as well as other sports. It also signed some numerous professional athletes, teams and federations in order to sponsorship some new contracts.

In the late 1990s, Reebok made a strategic commitment in order to align its brand with a select few of the world's most talented, exciting and cutting-edge athletes. For several years today, the company has focused on those athletes who represent the top echelon of sports and fitness, among them Allen Iverson and Venus Williams.

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