Reebok cuts running!!

just a quick question, what was the last reebok running shoe you tried? Their premier road plus kfs was actually a great shoe. It just happened to be that you could rarely get people to try them on because they had this predisposed opinion that the reebok shoes are horrible. They have gotten better over the last few years, and they were slowly making progress. I know several individuals that wore the road premier plus kfs and it outlasted their 2130s.

Male runners include Kevin Sullivan, Nate Brannen, and Nick Willis.

Adidas must be losing their ass with the purchase of Reebok (a waste of money). Reebok was never a reputable running brand in the US. Sure they have sponsored many runners but the product has never been any good. I bet that they aren't even a top ten brand in running.

They did have some good reps, I work at one of their key retailers and while the product was horrible, their reps were the best in the industry. I worked a few expos with their sales team and they were the hardest, most passionate and dedicated reps in the industry. It's a shame the company never gave them good product to sell.

Adidas bought Reebok to gain those pro apparel contracts. They're probably doing quite well with those alone. The acquisition had almost nothing to do with the performance of the running segment, it's incredibly ignorant to suggest that it was a factor. Running represents a very slim portion of Reebok's profits. The cuts simply represent responsible restructuring in an underperforming segment. Besides, Adidas already had and still has a much better running footwear segment of its own. It only makes sense to put the Reebok running footwear more into the big box retail market and the Adidas running footwear more into the running specialty segment.

Reebok has always made shit running shoes since they became a US brand, good bye and don't come back.

I will admit that I am biased because I really liked the reps and thought very highly of them from working a few times with the group. However, Adidas footwear isn't any better to be perfectly honest. I personally think Adidas shoes are mediocre at best, but the brand name has a better reputation than Reebok. There are six brands better than Adidas running shoes.

Reebok is a shit brand. Weren't they an aerobics brand or something first, I remember my mom wearing high-top aerobic shoes like 15 years ago. I still see those shoes around, maybe reebok should just stick with those shoes. It looks as though that is their plan since they fired all their running guys. Like the lead thread indicates, Reebok has obviously given up on running.

Adidas footwear has gotten much better the last few seasons. Our store has had good results with the sequence and the glide has gotten better response from the staff members that have worn it. The lightweight stuff is the best from anyone we just never sell much of that category. They have a long way to go but finally the shoes are good.

We brought in two Reebok shoes and thought they would do well at the 90$ level but am guessing we will be canceling orders on them in the near future. It was not that long ago they were making good shoes, Dan vs Dave and to say their product was shit is comical. The designers are probably the same ones who designed whatever shoes you are wearing today.

The AdiZero line alone is better than all of Reebok's offerings in the past decade. Reebok had one good shoe once in a while. No comparison.

I just saw the home page about Reebok cutting it's running program and i laughed because I never knew they even had one. Have I been asleep, when did Reebok ever get into running in the last ten years. I remember seeing that "Run Easy" (I think that was the name) campaign a few years ago at the Boston Marathon. That was embarrassing, why would you show up at the Boston Marathon with that slogan, what a joke of a company. If they ever were in running, they sure did a horrible job of being in it.

They are a hip-hop brand, maybe they could get some gangsta's to promote the running line. HAHAHA, word dat!!!

casual runner wrote:

I remember seeing that "Run Easy" (I think that was the name) campaign a few years ago at the Boston Marathon. That was embarrassing, why would you show up at the Boston Marathon with that slogan, what a joke of a company.

Have you seen the Boston Marathon recently?

As a running retailer whose reputation is on the line with every pair we sell I can't afford to put sub-par or mediocre product on a customers foot. With all the quality product available I don't need another SKU unless it has something to offer a customer and I can confidently put on a customer foot and expect that they will be very happy with that purchase.

Adidas shoes are not mediocre and if our customers feedback is any indication the 2,000+ pairs we sold the past year must be good or we had a large number of deluded customers who chose Adidas over a similar Asics, Brooks, etc.

Reebok is a victim of poor shoes in the past and poor timing right now. The product they were offering now was much, much improved. Unfortunately, they needed to be in the market with that product one year earlier so it had the opportunity to gain momentum. If there is a place in the market for Under Armour, there certainly a place for a company like Reebok with a history and support for the sport.

Consider that Nike specialty product was horrible 2+ years ago before their development team got things right. Their sales doubled in our store in one year. Reebok IMHO was on the cusp of achieving similar success (relative to their brand position), though they were at a disadvantage as they had allowed their brand to become irrelevant by lack of attention over the years. Unfortunately, they spent a lot of time and money to show they were serious about being involved in specialty running. And right when it was time for stores to take product and allow the consumer to decide, they cut their sales force. Without sales reps working with a store, you have no future as every other brand has people vying for your support.

runbird wrote:

LA Gear?!? Joke, correct? We all know money talks, but I can not see LA Gear even making a running shoe, let alone attract this kind of talent to commit to endorsing the brand. I call BS. Steve Jones is a lifer with Reebok, no way this goes down, he'll choke on his Guiness.

No, this is true. I've also heard that the Torri plus Cabad-ass are being taken on by LA Gear but are also in talks with Kswiss and British Knights.

Steve Jones IS a lifer with Reebok and is reportedly getting the new waterboy coaching position at Denver Bronco's so he can stay with the brand.

He is welsh and not Irish so does not necessarily drink Guiness.

Found in "You Sad Muppet" Weekly

I worked as a Field Service rep ( Tech Rep, but that's the title they gave us ) for Reebok from 92-95. During that period reebok had some outstanding product. The Graphlite technology was legit in the running line as was the Hexalite cushioning system.Running in Nike's all my life I was suprised how good the Reebok product was. Unfortunalely the company was run by Paul Fireman who had a hard-on for The Pump and Insta Pump. In May of 95 500 employees were laid off. Basically because all the marketing and advertising that was done in 94 on Insta Pump cost more than the product that was sold. Reebok had good people working for the company, but had terrible leaders who never focused on how to make Reebok better but rather how to catch Nike and be # 1. I remember back in late 94 reebok was all set to sign Uta pippig to a 3 year deal but she went to Nike, mainly because Mark Bossardet left reebok to join Nike. ( Then in later years came back to Reebok and now I hear is no longer with the company again ). Reebok defintly has the capability to be a player in the running game, but they really need to figure out who and what they want to be. It's ashame because so many good people have worked for that company, but they have traditionally had terrible leadership.

I worked as a Field Service rep ( Tech Rep, but that's the title they gave us ) for Reebok from 92-95. During that period reebok had some outstanding product. The Graphlite technology was legit in the running line as was the Hexalite cushioning system.Running in Nike's all my life I was suprised how good the Reebok product was. Unfortunalely the company was run by Paul Fireman who had a hard-on for The Pump and Insta Pump. In May of 95 500 employees were laid off. Basically because all the marketing and advertising that was done in 94 on Insta Pump cost more than the product that was sold. Reebok had good people working for the company, but had terrible leaders who never focused on how to make Reebok better but rather how to catch Nike and be # 1. I remember back in late 94 reebok was all set to sign Uta pippig to a 3 year deal but she went to Nike, mainly because Mark Bossardet left reebok to join Nike. ( Then in later years came back to Reebok and now I hear is no longer with the company again ). Reebok defintly has the capability to be a player in the running game, but they really need to figure out who and what they want to be. It's ashame because so many good people have worked for that company, but they have traditionally had terrible leadership.

I worked as a Field Service rep ( Tech Rep, but that's the title they gave us ) for Reebok from 92-95. During that period reebok had some outstanding product. The Graphlite technology was legit in the running line as was the Hexalite cushioning system.Running in Nike's all my life I was suprised how good the Reebok product was. Unfortunalely the company was run by Paul Fireman who had a hard-on for The Pump and Insta Pump. In May of 95 500 employees were laid off. Basically because all the marketing and advertising that was done in 94 on Insta Pump cost more than the product that was sold. Reebok had good people working for the company, but had terrible leaders who never focused on how to make Reebok better but rather how to catch Nike and be # 1. I remember back in late 94 reebok was all set to sign Uta pippig to a 3 year deal but she went to Nike, mainly because Mark Bossardet left reebok to join Nike. ( Then in later years came back to Reebok and now I hear is no longer with the company again ). Reebok defintly has the capability to be a player in the running game, but they really need to figure out who and what they want to be. It's ashame because so many good people have worked for that company, but they have traditionally had terrible leadership.

I worked as a Field Service rep ( Tech Rep, but that's the title they gave us ) for Reebok from 92-95. During that period reebok had some outstanding product. The Graphlite technology was legit in the running line as was the Hexalite cushioning system.Running in Nike's all my life I was suprised how good the Reebok product was. Unfortunalely the company was run by Paul Fireman who had a hard-on for The Pump and Insta Pump. In May of 95 500 employees were laid off. Basically because all the marketing and advertising that was done in 94 on Insta Pump cost more than the product that was sold. Reebok had good people working for the company, but had terrible leaders who never focused on how to make Reebok better but rather how to catch Nike and be # 1. I remember back in late 94 reebok was all set to sign Uta pippig to a 3 year deal but she went to Nike, mainly because Mark Bossardet left reebok to join Nike. ( Then in later years came back to Reebok and now I hear is no longer with the company again ). Reebok defintly has the capability to be a player in the running game, but they really need to figure out who and what they want to be. It's ashame because so many good people have worked for that company, but they have traditionally had terrible leadership.

reebok used to make good shoes.

nowadays, all i can say is: "f*** reebok"

you're both correct. Since introducing the pump Reebok has produced poor shoes. A specialist retailer can't afford to propose these shoe's to his customers. The'll probably never come back.

Pretty poor for a company with such broad possibilities.

Bye to the Ichan meet ! There will be alot of sad Jamaican fans. They were 95% of the crowd there. Jaimaicans are the best track and field fans in the U.S. I wish all Americans were like the Jamaicans !