Reebok brand has a very remarkable and interesting history. Reebok company was founded as early as 1895 by Joe and Jeff Foster. At that time its name was J.W. FOSTER & SONS and its headquarters were in Bolton, England. The company was renamed Reebok only in 1958. Reebok (rhebok) comes from the Afrikaans spelling of African gazelle.
Joe Foster was keen on athletics and took part in various competitions. In 1890s, the runners were faced with a typical problem – they needed to prevent themselves from slipping while running. So Joe decided to purchase nice quality cleats. But to his great surprise, he failed to find any affordable cleats of good or at least more or less satisfying quality. That’s why he decided to try his hands at designing the sports shoes of this type. Joe Foster came up with a brilliant idea to fix several tacks to the outsole of his old running shoes.
Each Reebok item was produced individually, lovingly, and by hand. In 1900s Reebok surged in popularity, and such shoe styles as Foster Deluxe Spike and Flyer became epoch-making inventions. BTW, they remained the best cleats available during 50 years since their devisal. In 1982, aerobics became the biggest craze of thousands of women worldwide. Comfy sports shoes at a moderate price were in high demand at that time.
It was Reebok company who was the first to produce women’s shoes for aerobics. Since then Reebok has been the leading shoe making company, and such models of women’s sport shoes as Freestyle and Princess have still been manufactured and snapped up. Since 1985 the company’s president has been Paul Fireman - he bought the company from Joe Foster’s grandson. In 1993, Reebok company changes its Union Jack logo for a famous Vector one.
Once Reebok was just a family-owned shoe company and now it is a corporation (subsidiary of Adidas AG) that enjoys high reputation worldwide. The company has always tried to do its best to produce unique and durable shoe styles that fully satisfy not only the needs of professional sportsmen but also the people who live fast.
