HISTORY OF THE BRAND - Reebok
Reebok International Limited, a subsidiary of the German company Adidas since 2005, is a producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and accessories. The name comes from the Afrikaans spelling of rhebok, a type of African antelope or gazelle. In 1890 in Holcombe Brook, a small village 6 miles north east of Bolton, United Kingdom, Joseph William Foster was making a living producing regular running shoes when he came up with the idea to create a novelty spiked running shoe. After his ideas progressed he joined with his sons, and founded a shoe company named J.W. Foster and Sons in 1895.
In 1958, two of the founder's grandsons Joe and Jeff Foster renamed the company Reebok in the United Kingdom, having found the name in a dictionary won in a race by Joe Foster as a boy; the dictionary was South African edition hence the spelling. The company lived up to the J.W. Foster legacy, manufacturing first-class footwear for customers throughout the UK. In 1979, Paul Fireman, a US sporting goods distributor, saw a pair of Reeboks at an international trade show and negotiated to sell them in North America.
Reebok had sponsored many top athletes and sports clubs since the early 1990s. Many deals were made, and fulfilled, and many have since moved on. Reebok has endorsed: Lewis Hamilton, Allen Iverson, Yao Ming, Sidney Crosby, Carolina Klüft, Amélie Mauresmo, Nicole Vaidi?ová, Shahar Pe'er, Ivy, Chad Ochocinco, Thierry Henry, Vince Young, Iker Casillas, Ryan Giggs, Andriy Shevchenko, and Amir Khan in a partial listing.
The company had exclusive rights to manufacture and market both authentic and replica uniform jerseys, sideline apparel and caps, and onfield football footwear of the teams of the National Football League (NFL) from 2002 to 2012 (marketed as NFL Equipment). Reebok also holds rights to manufacture Canadian Football League (CFL) onfield jerseys, sideline gear, and footwear since 2004. Reebok has rights to produce the on-ice "EDGE" Uniform System, performance apparel, and training footwear of the National Hockey League (NHL) since 2006. They are also the official shoe supplier to Major League Baseball (MLB).
Reebok was also the exclusive uniform provider for Brazilian clubs Cruzeiro, Internacional, and São Paulo FC. In Mexico, Reebok was kit provider of Chivas de Guadalajara before the team was took over by parent company Adidas in 2011.
HISTORY OF BRANDS