The first of those tech-infused sneakers, the Reebok Pump, debuted in 1989 and used inflatable chambers to offer a custom fit. By 1988, that number had grown to $1.8 billion, with Reebok controlling 26.7 percent of the athletic footwear market and besting Nike’s $1.2 billion in revenue.īut, not all good things last forever By 1989, The New York Times was reporting that Nike was “making strides in the marketing of shoes for the fashion-oriented customer-an area where Reebok been strong.” Reebok’s response was to steal a page from Nike’s playbook and try to rebrand itself a performance-oriented company by placing technology ahead of fashion. In 1987, Reebok’s sales totalled $1.4 billion-a thousand times what Fireman first generated in 1981. It certainly helped that, one of that year’s biggest films- Aliens-had its main character kicking ass in an abstract concept shoe, now known as the “Alien Stomper”. The emphasis Reebok placed on its footwear being fashionable outside fitness resonated with consumers: By 1986, Reebok was the foremost athletic footwear brand in North America. They were country club-ready sneakers that could be worn on and off the tennis court or outside the gym. Using that momentum-and the revenue that aerobics brought-Reebok made a concerted push in the men’s market, pushing silhouettes like the Workout, Newport Classic and the Revenge Plus-which would later become the Club Classic 85. Nike and adidas were jostling for position in the men’s market, but had largely overlooked the women’s segment, which had facilitated Reebok’s continued success after the Freestyle. While Fireman’s previous rights to Reebok afforded him creative input, taking sole ownership of Reebok would allow the brand to capitalize on the decade’s fitness revolution.

In 1984, a mere five years after acquiring the North American license, Fireman took another risk that would help cement Reebok’s dominant status in the latter part of the decade when he bought out the British parent company. Reebok’s initial explosive growth came from the women’s aerobics market when the brand introduced the Freestyle- a gamble at the time that Fireman was talked into by his West Coast sales rep, who had seen first-hand how passionate his wife was about aerobics. The company expanded from running spikes, offering a range of casual athletic footwear designed for amateur athletes and fitness aficionados. It was the decade that gave us aerobics and saw a new emphasis on sports like tennis-which blended physical activity with a sociocultural lifestyle. It was during the 1980s that people took a genuine interest in staying (or getting) in shape. By the end of the decade, it would become an investment that would reap legendary rewards. Initially, Fireman’s investment seemed like a modest success, with Reebok selling for roughly $1.5 million in 1981. In 1979, Reebok was exhibiting at the Chicago International Sneaker Trade Show, when Paul Fireman, an American outdoors gear wholesaler, discovered the brand Fireman acquired the exclusive rights to Reebok in North America. Reebok continued to produce running spikes throughout the ’60s and ’70s, with the company’s base remaining in England. Foster, in 1895 and developed one of the very first track spikes.Īfter initially struggling to copyright the name “Mercury”, the brothers turned to the Grey Rhebok, a species of African Antelope, which inspired the brand name. Their grandfather, Joseph William Foster, had launched an eponymous company, J.W.

Reebok was founded in England, in 1958, by a pair of brothers, Joe and Jeff Foster, to carry on a family tradition of making athletic footwear.

Over the years, Reebok’s history has been one of astronomical ascents and colossal collapses the brand has been both the preeminent athletic footwear manufacturer and the perennial afterthought, often swinging from one end of the spectrum to the other in the span of a few years. Rather, the sneaker world took cues from a sneaker company that few would-today-consider to be a “sneaker war” titan: Reebok. But, in the 1980s, it was neither Nike nor adidas that controlled the plurality of the American market. What if we told you that there was a time when Nike didn’t reign supreme in the American sneaker landscape? Given the Swoosh’s ubiquity in contemporary American culture-both in the the sneaker community and popular culture at large-it may be hard to believe.

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