In what year was Reebok founded?

Reebok was founded in 1958.

The brand began in Bolton, England, as a companion company created by brothers Jeff and Joe Foster, grandsons of running-shoe pioneer Joseph William Foster. Their family business, J.W. Foster and Sons, had deep roots in athletic footwear, but the new company adopted the name Reebok in 1958.

The name came from an Afrikaans word for the grey rhebok, a type of African antelope. That origin is why the brand’s early identity was associated with speed, agility and running. Reebok’s lineage is older than the brand itself: Joseph Foster began developing spiked running shoes in the late nineteenth century and established J.W. Foster in 1900.

Reebok later expanded internationally. American businessman Paul Fireman encountered the brand at a 1979 sporting-goods show, secured U.S. distribution rights and helped turn it into a major athletic-footwear company. Its 1982 Freestyle shoe, designed for women’s aerobics, became a major commercial success, while the Reebok Pump later became one of its best-known innovations.