At the age of 14 he started working in the bedroom above the candy store and designed his first spiked running shoes. Reebok's branding adventure, which achieved great success in its time.
In 1895, at age 14, Joseph William Foster began working in the bedroom above his father's candy store in Bolton, England. Foster was fond of shoes and had a desire to own a world-famous brand. He soon completed the designs of some of the first spiked running shoes. With this design, Foster made the first Foster running shoes, which would make an impact in the history of athletics.
After his ideas were developed, he founded the company "JW Foster" in 1900. He later joined his sons and changed the company's name to JW Foster and Sons. Foster opened a small factory called Olympic Works and gradually gained notoriety among athletes for his "working pumps". The company began distributing its shoes worn by British athletes in the United Kingdom. It was made famous by 100m Olympic champion Harold Abrahams at the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris.
In 1958, Joe and Jeff Foster, two of the founder's grandchildren, founded the company "Reebok," a phrase that Joe Foster found in the South African dictionary he won in a race as a child. Its meaning is roe antelope, although it refers to a kind of African antelope; Reebok, this type of antelope, which is called “RHEBOK” in Danish, expresses speed and grace.
Paul Fireman, an American businessman, spotted Reebok at the Chicago International Sneaker Trade show in 1979. Fireman was previously a manager at the family business Boston Camping. It entered into an agreement to license and distribute the Reebok brand in the United States. Division, Reebok USA Ltd. was named. Later that year, Fireman introduced three new shoes to the market, the most expensive at the time, at $60. By 1981, Reebok had sold over $1.5 million.
In 1982, Reebok introduced its first-ever new women's sneakers, specially made for them to be worn during hot fitness exercises called aerobic dance. And with the release of these shoes called Freestyle, Reebok pioneered three important trends in the sneaker industry.
In 1986, the brand abandoned its UK-colored logo, known as the Union Jack, to a new and more energetic vector logo. Reebok also began developing athletic apparel and accessories, entering the college/professional sports arena, and launching a line of kids' sneakers called Weeboks. By mid-decade, Reebok's sales were nearly $1 billion, surpassing Nike, Inc., as the largest U.S. sneaker maker before losing the top in 1988.
Reebok has always worked with athletes over the years. But one of the firsts in its history was its collaboration with famous rapper Jay Z in 2000. The shoes they took out together were called “Reebok S. Carter – Jay Z”. Jay Z's real name is Shawn Corey Carter.
In August 2005, Adidas bought Reebok as a subsidiary and merged two of the largest sports equipment companies, but produced under their own brands. Adidas bought all shares of Reebok and reported the value at $3.8 billion. Following this takeover, Adidas officially replaced Reebok as the NBA's uniform supplier in 2006.
After Kasper Rorsted took over as CEO of Adidas in 2016, he embarked on a comeback plan for Reebok that helps profitability. However, its performance continued to lag behind the main Adidas brand and was subsequently hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak. After some financial struggles, Adidas announced plans to divest the Reebok brand in February 2021. On August 12, 2021, it was announced that Authentic Brands Group would acquire the Reebok brand from Adidas for at least $2.5 billion. On March 1, 2022, the acquisition became final.