. reebok international type subsidiary industry sports equipment founded 1958 ; 58 years ago 1958 bolton england founder joe & jeff foster headquarters canton massachusetts united states area served worldwide products sportswear footwear parent adidas 2005 present website reebok.com reebok headquarters in canton massachusetts u.s. reebok is a global athletic footwear and apparel company . 1 reebok produces and distributes fitness and sports items including shoes workout clothing and accessories and training equipment . reebok is the official footwear and apparel sponsor for ufc crossfit spartan race and les mills . 2 in 1958 reebok was established as a companion company to j.w. foster and sons founded in 1895 in bolton greater manchester england . 3 it has been operating as a subsidiary of adidas 4 since 2005 . 5 the global headquarters are located in canton massachusetts u.s. with regional offices in amsterdam emea montreal canada hong kong asia pacific and mexico city central and south america . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 1980s 1990s 1.3 2000s present 1.3.1 adidas acquisition 2 offices 3 products 4 endorsements 4.1 americas 4.2 australia 4.3 europe 4.4 india 4.5 non sport related endorsements 5 sponsorships 5.1 american football 5.2 baseball 5.3 basketball 5.4 boxing 5.5 cricket 5.6 crossfit 5.7 ice hockey 5.8 lacrosse 5.9 mixed martial arts 5.10 track and field 5.11 other sponsorships 6 former sponsorships 6.1 american football 6.2 basketball 6.3 canadian football 6.4 cricket 6.4.1 governing body 6.4.2 national teams 6.4.3 indian premier league 6.5 football 6.5.1 national teams 6.5.2 club teams 6.6 rugby union 6.7 tennis 7 criticism 8 see also 9 note 10 references 11 external links history edit early history edit in 1895 in bolton joseph william foster at the age of 14 invented the spiked running shoe . after his ideas progressed he founded his business j.w. foster in 1900 later he joined with his sons and changed the company name to j.w. foster and sons . 6 7 the company began distributing shoes across the united kingdom and were worn by british athletes in the 1924 summer olympics held in paris . 8 in 1958 two of the founder s grandsons joe and jeff foster formed a companion company reebok having found the name in a south african dictionary won in a running race by joe foster as a boy . 6 the name is afrikaans for the grey rhebok a type of african antelope . 9 in 1979 at the chicago international sneaker trade show an american businessman paul fireman took notice of reebok . fireman was working for an outdoor sporting goods store and negotiated a deal to license and distribute the reebok brand in the united states . the division was called reebok usa ltd. 10 later that year fireman introduced three new shoes to the market at 60 . by 1981 reebok reached more than 1.5 million in sales . 3 1980s 1990s edit in 1982 reebok debuted the reebok freestyle aerobics shoe the first athletic shoe designed for women . 3 11 fitness professional gin miller became the face of step reebok the company s aerobics fitness campaign and program . 9 the following year reebok s sales were 13 million . 12 the company began expanding from tennis and aerobics shoes to running and basketball throughout the mid to late 1980s the largest segments of the athletic footwear industry at the time . 13 in 1985 reebok had its initial public offering on the new york stock exchange under the ticker symbol rbk . 8 13 in 1986 reebok switched its logo from the union jack flag it had since its founding to the vector logo with an abstract union jack streak across a race track . 14 the switch signaled the transition of the company into a performance brand as it began licensing deals with professional athletes in the nba and nfl . 15 during the 1980s reebok began introducing sports clothing and accessories along with a new line of children s athletic shoes called weeboks 16 at the end of 1980 . by the end of the year reebok s sales were about 1 billion . 5 one of the company s most signature technologies 17 the reebok pump debuted in 1989 18 19 with more than 100 professional athletes wearing the footwear by 1992 including shaquille o neal . 3 20 reebok named carl yankowski president and chief executive officer of the brand in 1998 replacing former president robert meers . 21 22 yankowski stepped down one year later to accept an executive position at another company . reebok chairman and ceo paul fireman took over as president for the first time in 12 years . 22 2000s present edit reebok signed venus williams after winning singles titles at wimbledon and the 2000 summer olympics . 23 in december 2000 reebok signed a 10 year licensing agreement with the nfl for the exclusive rights to manufacture and sell nfl licensed merchandise including uniforms and footwear for all 32 teams . 24 in 2001 reebok became the exclusive apparel outfitter for the 29 teams in the nba 25 and 16 wnba teams for ten years beginning in the 2004 2005 season . 26 the deal also added the reebok vector logo to the 2004 u.s. olympic basketball team s uniforms . 27 later in 2001 jay margolis was named as reebok s president and coo . 28 after launching retail flagship stores in china dhaka london los angeles new york philadelphia and tokyo margolis resigned in october 2004 . fireman took over as president after signing a new long term employment agreement with the reebok board of directors . 29 reebok acquired official national hockey league sponsor ccm in 2004 . the company began manufacturing ice hockey equipment under the ccm and reebok brands . reebok phased out the ccm name on nhl authentic and replica jerseys using the reebok logo since 2005 . ccm became reebok ccm hockey in 2007 . reebok will be moving most of its hockey equipment lines to ccm through 2015 . 30 adidas acquisition edit in august 2005 adidas acquired reebok as a subsidiary uniting two of the largest sport outfitting companies but maintaining operations under their separate brand names . 31 adidas acquired all of the outstanding reebok shares and completed the deal valued at 3.8 billion . 32 following the acquisition adidas replaced reebok as the official uniform and apparel supplier for the nba in 2006 14 with an 11 year deal that includes the wnba and replica jerseys and warm up gear . 33 reebok named paul harrington president and ceo of the company in january 2006 replacing paul fireman who was acting president since 2004 . harrington joined the company in 1994 and was reebok s senior vice president of global operations and chief supply chain officer . 34 reebok delta logo in 2010 reebok announced a partnership with crossfit a fitness company and competitive fitness sport including sponsoring the crossfit games opening crossfit studios and introducing a line of co branded footwear and apparel for fall 2011 . 35 in 2011 reebok debuted the crossfit delta symbol on the brand s fitness apparel line . in 2013 reebok announced another fitness partnership with les mills a group fitness and team training program in eighty countries in more than 15 000 studios . the agreement included reebok footwear and clothing integration into les mills fitness programs and media marketing . by july 2013 the red delta sign began showing up on all of reebok s fitness collections . the brand announced it was phasing out the vector logo and replacing it with the delta sign making it the company s second logo change in more than 120 years . 14 the delta symbol represents the three pillars of positive self change including mental physical and social as reebok increases its presence in the fitness industry with yoga dance aerobics and crossfit . 15 offices edit reebok s parent company adidas is headquartered in germany while the reebok world headquarters remains located in canton massachusetts . the reebok ccm hockey offices are located in quebec canada and stockholm sweden . reebok emea europe middle east africa has its regional office in amsterdam netherlands . the company also has additional regional offices located in panama city reebok latin america shanghai reebok shanghai international commerce centre singapore taikoo shing and toronto . 36 products edit reebok designs manufactures distributes and sells sport and fitness apparel footwear and accessories . the brand has also collaborated with other companies to produce fitness equipment and workouts . the company has released numerous notable styles of footwear including the 1982 introduction of the reebok freestyle that was manufactured and marketed for women . 37 in 1984 the shoe accounted for more than half of the reebok sales . 38 following the aerobics trend from the 1980s to early 1990s reebok also released workout programs called reebok step beginning in 1989 . 39 the brand also introduced one of their most signature shoes the reebok pump . the footwear collection was released as a men s basketball shoe and the world s first fully adjustable fit controlled with manual air allocation . 40 the reebok ventilator a line of lightweight athletic shoes with vented side panels was first introduced in 1990 . 41 in 1996 reebok signed a 50 million endorsement deal with allen iverson when he signed with the philadelphia 76ers . 42 43 iverson collaborated with reebok during his contract to create the second longest running basketball shoe line in history beginning with the question shoe in 96 and ending with answer xiv . 44 in 2010 the brand released reebok zig an athletic footwear technology and collection of shoes include zigzag foam soles designed to push athletes forward . 45 the reebok nano was released in 2011 and is the first official crossfit shoe . 46 the company has also partnered up with les mills and crossfit to produce more fitness apparel footwear and workouts . 9 47 reebok released the z series foam a combination of dense midsole and outsole so the foam is cushioned but not worn down . the foam debuted on the zquick tr with reebok s new delta logo in 2014 . 48 endorsements edit americas edit reebok store in north america reebok shoes were featured as product placement advertising on the nickelodeon game show double dare in the 1980s . from 2002 to 2012 the company held the exclusive rights to manufacture and market both authentic and replica uniform jerseys sideline clothing and caps and onfield football footwear marketed as nfl equipment of the teams of the national football league nfl . the company hired filmmaker errol morris to produce a series of 30 second commercials that aired during the 2006 nfl season . 49 in 2004 reebok entered into a deal that allows them the rights to manufacture canadian football league cfl onfield jerseys sideline gear and footwear ; this deal ended in 2015 . 50 reebok signed a four year deal to become the official shoe supplier to major league baseball mlb during the same year . 51 reebok holds the rights to produce the on ice edge uniform system performance clothing and training footwear of the national hockey league nhl in a 10 year agreement from 2006 to 2016 . 52 reebok was also the exclusive uniform provider for brazilian clubs cruzeiro internacional and s o paulo fc . 53 in mexico reebok was kit provider of chivas de guadalajara before the team was taken over by parent company adidas in 2011 . 54 on december 2 2014 the ultimate fighting championship ufc announced a six year deal with reebok which will begin in july 2015 . 55 australia edit in 2005 reebok also signed an exclusive agreement to design and supply all eight team home and away strips for the new australian a league competition . although not an