Reebok
Reebok International Limited (NYSE: RBK) is a Fortune 500 company named for a type of African gazelle. It was founded in Bolton, a town in Lancashire, England and is now based in Canton, Massachusetts, in the United States. It originally produced only running shoes, but the company has since diversified and today produces a wide range of sports shoes, clothing, and equipment.
In the past, Reebok had an association with sweatshops, but today it is firmly committed to human rights. In April 2004, Reebok's footwear division became the first company to be accredited by the Fair Labor Association [1]. The company holds exclusive rights to manufacture and market both authentic and replica uniform jerseys and sideline apparel of the teams of the National Football League since 2002, the National Basketball Association since 2004, the Canadian Football League since 2004, and the National Hockey League (through the purchase of The Hockey Company in the spring of 2004), and is the official shoe supplier to the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. Reebok was also a major sponsor of tennis star Andy Roddick, but ended their 12 year relationship in April 2005. Reebok continues to endorse Venus Williams.
The company includes such brands as Rockport, Ralph Lauren RLX shoes, CCM, Koho, Jofa, and Rbk hockey equipment and apparel, and Reebok Classic, G-UNIT, S. Carter street lifestyle shoes and apparel. It maintains its relationship with its origins in England through a long-term sponsorship deal with Bolton Wanderers, a Premiership football club. When the team moved to a brand new ground in the late 1990s, their new home was named the Reebok Stadium. Another English Premiership club, Manchester City, signed a near £5m four-year kit deal with Reebok in 2003 [2].