ریباک

Key Areas of Focus for Reebok International: Continue to develop innovative products for athletes. These products attract serious athletes and fashion trendsetters, creating market excitement. Continue to sponsor athletes and teams in major U.S. and global sports. Accelerate the expansion in soccer, the world's most popular sport. Build presence in other sports--such as badminton or wrestling--that evoke strong loyalties in certain markets. Bolster leadership in fitness and women's sports. Provide instruction, leadership and inspiration&mdash well as excellent product offerings. Continue developing world-class logistical and information systems to maximize assets, speed time to market and achieve other efficiencies. Continue to expand the apparel business, focusing on authentic sports and fitness apparel that is both functional and fashionable. Build closer, cooperative relationships with retailers. Customize services to better fit their needs. Continue improving retail presence. Reebok International Ltd. is one of the world's leading athletic footwear and apparel makers. The company first gained prominence by opening up a new market for athletic shoes&mdashærobic exercise shoes for women interested in fashion as well as function--and subsequently built upon that success by expanding into other sports and products and by seeking business around the world. Reebok currently sells footwear and apparel in the sports, fitness, and casual sectors, under such brands as Reebok, Weebok, Greg Norman, Rockport, Ralph Lauren , and Polo Sport. The company also operates about 150 factory direct stores, including Reebok, Rockport, and Greg Norman stores. Reebok began its growth into a worldwide enterprise in 1979 when Paul B. Fireman, a marketer of camping and fishing supplies, noticed the products of a small British athletic shoemaker, Reebok International, at a Chicago sporting goods show. Looking for a business opportunity, Fireman acquired the North American license for the company's products, founding Reebok U.S.A. The British parent company, the oldest manufacturer of athletic shoes in the world, got its start in the 1890s in Bolton, England, when Joseph William Foster began handcrafting shoes with spiked soles for runners. By 1895 he was the head of J.W. Foster and Sons, Inc., providing shoes to world-class athletes, including the 1924 British Olympic running team. In 1958 two of Foster's grandsons founded Reebok, named after an African gazelle, to manufacture running shoes in Bolton, and this company eventually took over the older firm. The company's fortunes began to change dramatically, however, in 1982 with the introduction of a shoe designed especially for aerobic exercise. Unlike traditional athletic shoes, which were made of unglamorous materials in drab colors, Reebok aerobics shoes were constructed of soft, pliable leather and came in a variety of bold, fashionable colors. Reebok's Freestyle aerobics shoe was the first athletic shoe designed and marketed specifically for women, and it quickly became hugely popular. By selling its shoes to women, Reebok had opened up a new market for athletic shoe sales. This market would continue to expand as women began to wear their comfortable athletic shoes on the street, for daily life. In addition, the company both contributed to and profited from the boom in popularity of aerobics in the early 1980s, sponsoring clinics to promote the sport and its shoes. In July 1985 Reebok International stock was offered publicly for the first time, selling over the counter at $17 a share. By this time international sales of Reebok shoes were contributing 10 percent of revenues. By September the company was unable to meet the continuing high demand for its products and was forced to restrict the number of shoes available to individual stores until it could expand production at its South Korean factories. In June 1986, Reebok was rebuffed in its first attempt to expand through the acquisition of