All Change (Korea May ’85)

1985 was going to be a step change in Reebok design, not that any of us had made that decision or even a conscious thought to say we would do that, it was much more a gradual thing as drawings were drawn and sketches sketched.  

Early Sketch of Workout Pro Cradle concept done in Korea May 1985 (©’85 David Foster)

Eventual Pro Support from 1986

The Reebok arrow and side check now progressively began to disappear, and the large double size Reebok logo replaced it.  ACT 600 also pioneered the extended counter; this was topped with a mesh stripe that hid ventilation holes that ran around under it.  The ventilation was dropped on the BB6600, but it kept the counter and was simply tipped with French piping in a contrast PU trim. The counter foxing came right through the arch

ACT 600 Pioneered the large window label

BB6600 brought in a nylon plate on the lateral forefoot, to stop blow out of the upper at the ball of the foot. this was copied into pro-workout and aerobic instructor models. A trend that would evolve as we went on with forefoot reinforcement and developed into softer moulded PU and Rubber components as the very first production broke sewing needles on the line on a frequent basis. 

BB6600, showing elongated foxing, large window label, forefoot blowout reinforcement and two sets of curved eyelets. Typical of 1985 designs.

A curved speed lace eyelet that could also be sewn into the shoe in place of an eyelet was another new feature, that allowed fluid movement of the lace through one art of the shoe before being locked off above or below.

C.K. Lee was our Development Technician at Asco, he that had been struggling to match the colours of different materials.  He made appointments for us to visit each of the suppliers in turn and review all the new lab dips I had asked for.  We spent the next four days travelling the length and breadth of the city visiting each supplier and choosing the closest colour to our pantone reference swatches.  EVA was especially hard as we had to buff the surface to get the correct colour in the correct finish.  This process was exacerbated by the Italians sending us a new set of twelve colours for a canvas Freestyle and Hi-top they wanted for their Spring collection!  

Lemon canvas Freestyle a special make up for Italy (© David Foster 1985)

The first attempt at a canvas Freestyle was a mess  the window cut out just stretched badly and was prone to fray, the solution was to embroider the side logo, which was an absolute triumph.

Stitching uppers of GL 1600 Korea 1985 (©David Foster 1985)

In between this development schedule I got a chance to get a tour around the factory and was allowed to photograph them making GL1600 running shoes.  Totally amazing as their factory made 1,200 pairs per line per day in a single shift and with over time 2,000.  By comparison the Reebok Factory in Bolton made 3-400 per month.

GL1600 on the production line Korea May 1985 (©David Foster 1985)

They had four lines running for Reebok and two just made Freestyle. At the end of two weeks Tuan and Paul headed back to the USA and I to the UK via Hong Kong. Back to Seoul, now with two large wheelie bags full of all the coloured samples for Italy and to Hong Kong overnight  via Taipei on Cathay Pacific.  Too late to catch the flight to London I  took a taxi into TsimShaTsui to the Sheraton and next day walked to Star House to meet up with Patrick Tang for lunch.  Patrick ran ASCO, the sourcing company of Pentland, who made shoes for many UK companies such as Marks and Spencer and British Shoe Corporation chains, Dolcis and Saxone.  We ate Dim Sum at a large and bustling restaurant before I had to return to the hotel to check out and head back home. British Airways flight 8 took me to Bombay via Singapore where we deplaned and sat seated on plastic chairs in an unairconditioned  waiting room before travelling on to London and then Manchester,  it had been almost three days since leaving Korea and I had just been around the world, age 19!

© David Foster 2020