Spitfires and Hurricanes (81-84)

Not only could Pentland provide the financial backing Fireman needed but also, they had offices in Hongkong and Pusan, Korea the home of HS corporation and their factory. To head his development Paul recruited Steve Liggett, who would spend much of the next five years flying to and from Pusan where he stayed for months on end.

Orient express (77-83)

Reebok had struggled through the mid 70’s to fight increases in cost, inflation in the UK was running at over 10% and industrial relations between corporations and unions was at rock bottom. Every year Reebok’s prices went up while their competitions didn’t.  It was at the super show that salvation from this ever-increasing spiral was found. 

VICTORY G (OG) review:

The Victory GOG is a tribute to what I would say was the first Reebok to be created by Paul Fireman,  It was Paul who saw GORE-TEX running suits in 1980 and it was his challenge to My Dad and then Factory Manager Bob Johnson to come up with the shoe.  It was also Paul who insisted on changing the companies logo away from the ‘Starcrest’ and insisted on the union flag, in a window box on the lateral of the shoe, a feature that would be a Reebok trademark for the next 20years.

GUS and I, in the City ‘86

I came up with City ’86. I had a limited budget, but we could spend a little on new pattern work. I kept the back half of City, same counter foxing, heel tab and side stripe. New toe cap/ foxing with side support bars, close to the Classic Leather. Three piece facing to replace City’s expensive one piece affair. This echoed the GL6000’s shadow effect wrap around throat.

Wade-Smith (Summer ‘86)

Wade Smith was owned and run by Robert Wade-Smith assisted by a young guy by the name of Chris Lee. Ironically, Chris would leave Wade-Smith in 1999 to be the Creative Director of Product at Reebok for two years. Wade-Smith was a small store in ’86 but was a mecca for trainer nuts, especially Adidas City Series, Gazelle, Trimtab etc. For us to be accepted into this inner sanctum was an honour, even if we didn’t realise at the time.

WHAM! Bam, Katharine Ham’ (Katharine Hamnett 1986)

He introduced himself as Lionel and he worked for Katharine Hamnett, ‘Okay’ I was a bit lost, but as we continued to talk, I began to realise what he was talking about. ‘Andrew and George’ said we were the people to talk to. I agreed he could come up to the factory and discuss what he wanted. It was only after I put the phone down did it dawn on me that Andrew and George were WHAM! (yes, that WHAM!).

European comeback (Super Show, Feb ’86).

Reebok was on a high, the biggest athletic brand in the USA, built on aerobics and men’s fitness two categories that hadn’t existed three years before and now dominated the American market. Our competitors Nike, number two in the USA and Adidas in Europe had not seen it coming and been dumbstruck by our growth.

Lesson learnt (April to May 1985)!

Work on what was to become the LX8500 and GL6000 began in April ’85 and was a combined plan to create a new $100 running shoe that was to be a SUPER Leather Classic running shoe and a premium stability shoe to sit above Phase1 and replace City in Europe.

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.

Around the World in 30days (1985)

For fans of Douglas Adams who will be aware of his book ‘The restaurant at the end of the Galaxy’ I can only describe Anchorage as ‘The airport at the end of the Galaxy!’ A long glass corridor with gates at each side the airport was miles from Anchorage and sat in the middle of raised taxiways which had deep pits surrounding them. I decided to explore and headed off to the far end past display cases of stuffed Moose, stuffed Bears, stuffed wolves in fact every type of fauna in Alaska including a family of Inuit on a sledge pulled by stuffed dogs. Bizarre!