Equitise Managing Director Jonny Wilkinson sits down with Reebok co-founder Joe Foster
Equitise Managing Director Jonny Wilkinson, had the opportunity to sit down and interview Joe Foster, the co-founder of Reebok, one of the world's largest and well-known sneaker brands. During the call Joe discussed what it was like growing up during a wall, how he almost went went down a different career path, founder dynamics and the legacy he'll leave behind.
Below are some moments of the interview that have been transcribed or you can watch the full interview to hear everything Jonny and Joe discussed.
Jonny Wilkinson: You lived in the US for quite some time when you were getting Reebok going there. Is that right?
Joe Foster: I never lived in the US, but I was in the US for a lot of my, my time because that was a big market. If we could make it in America, which we did, we could get global. So we made it in America, and that took us global.
JW: Do you think you were destined for the family business? Was it always meant to be?
JF: I guess in a way, yes. Although I did, I went to college, an engineering college, so I was brought up with engineering and in the North England where, where we lived, it was well noted for engineering, for airplanes and, propellers. De Havilland, I don't know if you’ve ever heard of De Havilland, they helped make spitfires. So I could have gone into engineering. My father also wanted me to be an accountant. But, after spending 2 or 3 weeks in an accountant's office, I decided that was not for me. And I didn't want to be just looking at books and just ticking things off. I wanted something with a bit more action. So, yeah, those things. And certainly, when I was in the forces, I was in I was in the RAF, and I was tempted to consider applying for a fighter pilot. But, again, decided against it, and instead of staying in the RAF, I went back home.
JW: So you think you had that entrepreneurial spirit or there was that desire in what you're doing that you didn't quite conform? You weren't gonna make it in the Air Force. You wanted to go and do something. Is that is that what it was?
JF: I guess it was like that. I mean, it's hard to say when you're young, you don't really think too much about the future. You just think about the present and what would you like to do, for whatever reason. I did my national service and went back to the to the family business. So I guess, really, I didn't have any big visions of what I should be doing. I think it's only when we went back to the family business. And when we got back after being in the forces, both Jeff and I were away about the same time and we came back to a failing business.
We could see the business was failing. Adidas had taken over the football market, my father and my uncle were running the business at that time. They just didn't get on. They just spewed it all the time. They hardly spoke together, so the business, it failed. And, Jeff and I saw this and thought we have to move.
JW: Sounds like a smart move. So jumping forward, obviously, you started the sports business and and rebranded to Rebook. What did you do that had the rapid embracement of the brand with young people? You know, especially given in the eighties, marketing channels were quite limited?
JF: Well, we, of course, were performance. And as performance, we know everything is street. We know everything is now a high street and fashion. In our early days, we were just performance.... I guess that, being in performance sports, we started off with cycling it lasted probably a couple of years in cycling, but we slowly moved over to athletics. And what we did with athletics is that every town had at least 1 athletic club. And all these clubs were affiliated to the AAA, the Amateur Athletic Association. So there'll be about 400 clubs in the whole of the country. The AAA produced a handbook and the handbook had the name and address of every secretary of every club in the country. So the simple answer to that was we sent them a letter and if anybody in the club wants to become an agent, we'll give a give him a percentage and he can sell to the club members. My first letter got me a 100 agents.
JW: Wow.
JF: Over the next, 2 years, I sent following letters. And, eventually, we ended up with 300, agents and and that that took us to become the number 1 athletics company. So because we we we were talking to athletes, we're working with athletes, and, they helped with the products and the any ideas they had. My brother, Jeff, he was an athlete, he liked running. I didn't like running, I didn't even like the factory, which was good when we left the family [business]. My brother, he loved the factory, he loved the factory we set up. After 18 months, I didn't work in the factory anymore because he ran the factory, and we had the arrangement. I would do everything else. So I did the marketing, the sales, and whatever else it took to build the company.
JW: That was a big success.
JF: Well, we never fell out. Jeff and I never fell out. We had our own separate roles, it was good. And, and eventually, it became really good.
JW: Fantastic. And then last question. So you've obviously had a success. You've built an amazing business, you've grown it. With hindsight, what are some of the things you could have done better or the mistakes you could have avoided?
JF: Well, that one is is difficult because we overtook Adidas. We overtook Nike, and we became number 1. So I find it difficult to think what could I have done differently that would have been more successful, because we became number 1.
I'm I'm sure there are a lot of things. But, you know, had Jeff survived, would we have gone on to the success that we had? Because, you know, it was tragic that Jeff would die just as we got to America. When he did die, of course, all decisions meant I didn't need to talk to anybody. Previously, I needed to involve the whole family. But when Jeff died, I didn't need to do that. So I don't know. It's, it's very tough. I do think that if Jeff had survived and had stayed and not, not got cancer, I do think the company would have been different. But, it's hard to say how and it's hard to say in what way. It was tragic and I had to take on other people. I took 3 people to replace Jeff.
JW: There's always that dynamic with founders, it can work tremendously well when you get the business going, but then to take it forward, it it always sort of benefits from someone having more control and focus, I think.
JF: Well, I could I could just make simple decisions. And, if it was wrong, I could change it, and I didn't need to ask anybody... So I could go and do it. and if anybody complained, it didn't make any difference. I'd done it.
JW: I'm sure I would have been very proud of what you achieved and, the the legacy that you, helped helped create. So, I think that's very well done. Is there a lasting legacy you'd like to leave post everything you've achieved?
JF: Well, I think the legacy that is there is that we actually built a brand, and a brand which will be around a lot longer than either I or Jeff. The brand remains, and the brand is becoming stronger now. So the legacy is a brand, a brand called Reebok, and it seems to be doing quite well these days.
JW: It is. It's making quite a resurgence. So, no, that's fantastic to see.
JF: It is indeed. Yes so fantastic, that's great, well done.