Executive Spotlight: Joe Foster – Founder of Reebok

Few names in the world of sportswear carry the weight and legacy of Reebok, and fewer still can claim to have built such an empire from the ground up. Joe Foster didn’t just create a brand; he revolutionised the athletic footwear industry and helped shape the very culture of sport and fitness as we know it today.

Born into a family with deep roots in the Lancashire shoemaking trade, Joe Foster transformed his grandfather’s modest workshop into a global powerhouse that would eventually challenge giants and redefine what athletic footwear could be. From hand-stitching running spikes in Bolton to pioneering innovations like the Freestyle aerobics shoe that captured the zeitgeist of the 1980s fitness revolution, Foster’s journey is one of remarkable vision, resilience, and entrepreneurial brilliance.

Under his leadership, Reebok grew from a small British company into an international phenomenon, securing landmark endorsements, driving cultural movements, and ultimately achieving a valuation that would see it acquired by Adidas for £2.4 billion. Yet Foster’s story is about far more than commercial success. It’s about an unwavering belief in quality, innovation, and the power of sport to transform lives. It’s about taking calculated risks, weathering setbacks, and never losing sight of the passion that started it all.

Today, we have the extraordinary privilege of sitting down with Joe Foster to explore the highs and lows of building one of the most iconic brands in sporting history and to discover the lessons that can inspire the next generation of business leaders.

Your grandfather, J.W. Foster, founded the company that would eventually become Reebok back in 1895. What was it like growing up in that shoemaking legacy, and at what point did you realise you wanted to take the family business in a bold new direction rather than simply maintaining tradition?

My grandfather died in 1933, some 15 months before I was born, which happened to be on his birthday, 18 May. Being born in 1935, it was only 4 years before the start of WW2, a period when nobody wanted spiked running shoes. So, the family business turned its hand to repairing army boots. It was 1945 before the family business turned back to sports footwear, and my brother Jeff and I returned to school. Eventually, Jeff left school at 14 to start work at J. W. Foster & Sons, but it was 5 years later, at the age of 17, that I was to join him. I attended technical college from the age of 13 and stayed on until I was 17. At that time, working in the factory was no more than a job; we just made shoes with spikes on the bottom. Sport was not that big at the time, just something you did at the weekend, and we didn’t think of it as anything special.

However, at 18, it was time for me to do National Service.   Jeff had been deferred, so he would not do his until he was 21, some 9 months after me. National Service was to be a game-changer. On our return, we realised that J. W. Foster & Sons was dying and needed change. I argued the point with my father, but got a “when I’m gone, and your uncle has gone, you can do what you like”, so we decided it was time to leave and set up our own company. It was 1958, and that was the start of our Reebok journey.

The decision to rebrand, from Mercury Sports Footwear to Reebok, and expand into the American market in the late 1970s was a pivotal moment. Can you walk us through that period of transformation? What convinced you that breaking into the highly competitive US market was not only possible but essential, and what were the biggest obstacles you faced in making that leap?

We set up in the next town as Mercury Sports Footwear, but after 18 months, we found out that Mercury was already registered by another company, so we had to find a new name. It’s another story, but I found REEBOK in a dictionary I won as an 8-year-old during WW2.

On leaving J. W. Foster & Sons, in 1958, without any money, we found that we couldn’t go into Football because Adidas had taken the market. We needed a White Space, so we concentrated on Cycling and Running. Cycling worked well until we lost our salesman in a road accident; however, running was expanding and by now we owned the Rugby League boots market. To continue the growth, we thought, what’s next? Do we now go into football or expand our territory? We decided to go for territory, and as luck would have it, the government were supporting export sales to the USA.  At that time, running was growing fast in America, and we wanted to be part of it. My first visit to the National Sporting Goods of America tradeshow was in 1968, and although I already had 6 failed distribution attempts, in 1979, we found the right person, Paul Fireman.

The biggest problem we then faced was production and price. I knew our small factory in the UK would find it impossible to meet either one. The answer was Asia.

The Reebok Freestyle became a cultural phenomenon in the 1980s and is often credited with creating the women’s athletic footwear market. How did you identify that opportunity when others in the industry hadn’t, and what does that experience teach us about recognising and acting on market gaps that others simply can’t see?

Again, it is White Space. Sports shoes were unisex and just made smaller for women. It was Aerobics that gave us our breakthrough when our technical rep in Los Angeles, Angel Martinez, decided to go to see what his wife was doing at these new classes. He persuaded the R&D team in Boston to make some shoes made specifically for women, in women’s sizes and in glove leather. The glove leather wasn’t a good idea, but everything else was. Glove leather became garment leather, and then when Jane Fonda bought a pair to wear in her fitness videos, sales went viral, and the company went from $ 9m to $900m in 4 years.

Building Reebok meant competing directly with established giants like Nike and Adidas. What strategies did you employ to not just survive but thrive in such a competitive landscape, and were there moments when you questioned whether the company could truly make it to the top?

It was important to find the white spaces that were either too small or too localised for the big companies to venture into, and this is what we did with sports like orienteering, cross-country, fell running and Rugby League – all small or localised.

To capture the British running market, we went directly to the clubs and appointed agents, giving them discounts.  Also, growing or scaling the company was a step too far at the time, as we had no fixed ambition to become number 1. Continually seeking to be different led us to women and aerobics, which made us grow bigger than Adidas and Nike. Then in the late 1980’s, we were the Number 1 global sports shoe company in the world.

Looking back on the journey from a small workshop in Bolton to a multi-billion-pound global brand, what would you say was the most critical decision you made, and if you were starting out today in the current business climate, what fundamental principles would remain the same and what would you approach differently?

We made a lot of wrong decisions, but the worst is making no decision at all. Going to the USA was probably the most critical of all. Life would be easy if you knew the result of every decision you make, but importantly, we viewed problems as opportunities and just kept going

Today brings with it new and different challenges, but many are the same or similar. If you are a Brand, then visibility is important, and today influencers are part of this.

But it is important that you enjoy what you are doing. What is different today is the technology, which you must fully embrace to be able to take full advantage.

Reebok didn’t just compete in the athletic footwear market; you fundamentally changed it. For someone looking to start a sports clothes brand today, what advice would you give them about finding their own ‘white space’ and building a brand that can genuinely compete?

It’s important to know the market and search out what is leading it – colour, shape, material etc. and then evaluate what you can bring to make a difference. When we set up Reebok, we tried not to compete but change or create a new market. Look into your chosen field and decide where there are problems or missing elements, and look for ways to solve and improve.

You’ve spoken about the importance of creating a culture where people feel ownership and are driven to win together. When you were building Reebok from that small factory in Bolton to a global powerhouse, how did you attract and retain the right people, especially in those early years when you had limited resources? What made talented individuals believe in your vision enough to join you on that journey?

Getting the right people is important. You want people who want to improve and to be part of the business. Keep clear of egos and build a team of people who want to enjoy working together. We are talking sport, so you need people who participate, people who will wear the product and bring ideas and innovations to the table.

The business landscape has changed dramatically since you founded Reebok in 1958. Social media, digital marketing, and e-commerce have transformed how brands connect with consumers and build visibility. If you were starting Reebok today with the same limited resources you had back then, which aspects of your original approach would you keep, and how would you adapt your strategy to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in the modern marketplace?

In the years since 1958, the whole landscape has changed, and AI and other technologies are going to continue this change.  There is no doubt that 3D printing has a part to play in finding white space, although currently volume and colour variations can be an issue here, but big developments in the printers are coming. Also, finding something that is visible (viztec) is a big marketing advantage.

Sports-driven footwear and apparel have now become street, and the big companies continue to grow and continue to use performance for marketing. But there is a trend for a more slip-on simple molded shoe. The market has changed so much that the old ways Reebok, Adidas, and Nike operated have had to change with it or would lose much of their market appeal. Gaming, TikTok and other types of apps with influencers are now getting attention.  I would be looking at a different market now with the resources we had back in 1958, because now it takes a lot of money to make a difference in sports footwear.

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