Discovering a passion.

We rented a car and my Dad drove us down to Anaheim, where we stayed in a Howard Jonson Motor Lodge, with a fantastic view of Disneyland from our window and just 8 minutes walk.

We spent the next day at Disneyland, I met Mickey Mouse, road Thunder Mountain and my mum fell in love with It’s A Small World, so much so that she bought a music box that played it. Dad bought the Seven Dwarfs as figurines, but they didn’t have Snow White!

Me, Mickey and Mum, Disneyland ’83

It was the next day though that was to change my life, we attended a West Coast trade show where I met two people who would change Reebok as well.  Angel Martinez was the Californian ‘Tech Rep’ for Reebok.  This was a new kind of job title for me, Angel toured the South West teaching sales staff about Reebok’s shoes and selling retailers into the Reebok brand ethos. Wow! he talked to us so effortlessly and convincingly about our own company, he was amazing. Then he showed us his new line of shoes he had convinced Paul Fireman and Ed Lussier into producing:

Reebok rep vans outside the Anaheim convention center.

Energizer (as in the bunny) was a white suede and nylon running shoe styled shoe with gum rubber cup sole and exposed white EVA in the middle.  He talked us though the shoe, why the flex dips where there in the toe cap and why the sole had rubber heel and toe and span the shoe over to show us the (Hexi-grip) sole in gum, so it wouldn’t mark the studio floor.  The Hexi-grip was straight off the California Runner we used to make before I joined Reebok and I’d had a pair of the bright red and navy trimmed trainers, just because California Runner was such a ‘cool’ name.  Angel enthused about the shoe then produced his next offering ‘Freestyle’ a slim full length ‘glove leather’ shoe in white with gum sole, ‘Powder Pink’ and ‘Baby Blue’  this was a million miles from the sweat and mud covered fell runners I was used to.  

Original Freestyle advertising from 1983

Here beneath the warm California sun, shaded by palm trees, there was a new sport; ‘Aerobics’ or Aerobic Workout.  Angel continued to talk how, Californian ladies were taking over dance studios and working out to music in groups.  Clad in new lycra form fitting cloths of which he had a great little range to show us. He spoke of fitness and working out to get fit as the ‘new thing’ of how it was ‘the future’.  It was then that he introduced us to his secret weapon ‘Denise’.  Denise Austin ‘sparkled’ wide smiles, hugs over handshakes, blonde haired, blue eyed all American girl.  

Denise Austin with Dad 1983 Anaheim

I had never come across that before certainly not in the wind and rainswept corner of  England I was from. There the girls wore dark colours, woolly jumpers and thick tights and here was a 26 year old women dress in day glow, skin tight lycra, that never stopped talking, even while she was dancing, bounding and leaping to upbeat music from a ghetto blaster.  I was blown away, sold, hook, line and sinker!

© David Foster 2020