With news of John Wall’s jump from Reebok to adidas came rumors from across the sneakersphere that this move, in essence, has put the finishing touches on Reebok Basketball’s obituary.
Isn’t so.
Just read Reebok Basketball’s own words from their own tweet here. Then read this article from SLAM Online for a more detailed debunking.
Rbk Basketball is NOT going away, we’re just getting things started @therealswizzz @rickyrozay @isaiah_thomas2 @jasonterry31 @jameernelson
— Reebok Basketball (@ReebokHoops) January 9, 2013
Sounds a little like what Nike did with Converse.
First, the main face of the brand jumps ship to another division with no new star player to take his place. A little noise is made about how the brand carrying on anyways, even though the focus was shifting to lifestyle shoes. Eventually, the company gives up, the rest of the endorsers start to move to the main basketball brand, and the performance shoes are slowly dropped.
I am sad that this is now happening to Reebok. Adidas is following in big man Nike’s footsteps.
specially after the answer and question retros.. and the identity john wall built with reebok..
The retros are jut getting started – no worried there Urriah. I am especially sad because I rocked Reebok first, even before Nike. Sucks the market is so blinded established brands can’t even find a niche market.
i’d still my encores. just for casual stuff.
once my encores die out, it’s onto the zigEscape
It’s a shame that the partnerhsip between Reebok and Wall didn’t take off as expected given the fate of the Wizards (come on guys) and him being sidelined by injury. The Zig Tooling’s a neat concept for fluidity and responsiveness, but might’ve put people off aesthetically.
I still have hope Reebok has some life in its basketball line. They can bring some of the energy from their Classics line to inspire original designs that are grounded in performance.