Once a Rival to Nike, Reebok Makes a Comeback in China

Written by He Zhexin Edited by Qiao Qian The Victory of Aerobics When director Sid Galanty invited Jane Fonda to record a fitness video, she turned him down without a second thought. "It would ruin my acting career," she said. "If people saw me on TV in a leotard, how could they still believe in my characters in the movies?" This was 1980s America, when the craze for women's fitness was rising as high as public political engagement. To raise money for the political organization she supported, the Hollywood star ultimately accepted Galanty's invitation. The tape later sold more than 200,000 copies in a year, surpassing Paramount's Star Trek II. This was the very climate in which Reebok Freestyle took off: a sneaker designed specifically for women's fitness, perfectly suited to an aerobics craze led by women that could be practiced both at home and in the gym. In 1988, Reebok's annual sales reached $1.8 billion, surpassing Nike's $1.2 billion. To date, Reebok is the only sports brand that has truly outsold Nike in global total sales. Reebok advertisement for the Freestyle fitness shoe from the 1980s In Steve Robaire's view, after being acquired by Authentic Brands Group (hereinafter "Authentic"), a global sports, media, entertainment and lifestyle IP management company, Reebok has for the first time had a chance to return to its former peak. To compete with Nike, Adidas spent $3.8 billion to buy Reebok in 2005, but just 16 years later, Reebok was back on the negotiating table. In 2022, Authentic became Reebok's new owner. Steve Robaire joined Reebok in 2008 and served as Reebok's general manager for Greater China during the Adidas era. In 2022, Robaire was appointed Reebok's International Executive Vice President and later also took on oversight of Champion. We understand that members of the brand management team responsible for more hands-on operations in the domestic market mostly have sports brand careers as well. Steve Robaire describes the past four years as a period of adjustment. He said, "We put a great deal of effort into repositioning Reebok as a brand at the intersection of sport and fashion style. As we say, Let Reebok be Reebok." Ro