Reebok Reiterates Commitment to CrossFit Community
In the wake of this week’s news that fitness apparel upstart NOBULL would replace Reebok as the title sponsor of the CrossFit Games as well as exclusive apparel and footwear sponsor of CrossFit, Reebok’s President Matt O’Toole made it clear to Morning Chalk Up the brand isn’t going anywhere.
What he’s saying: “While our official partnership with CrossFit HQ came to an end in 2020, make no mistake, Reebok remains committed to supporting the athletes, affiliate partners, and the global CrossFit community,” O’Toole told the Morning Chalk Up this week.
- “This is a community that we’ve believed in since day one, and we have no plans to walk away from them. We will also continue our focus on creating the very best products for the sport.”
- “Our latest shoe, the Nano X1 — the Official Shoe of Fitness — is the greatest shoe ever created for the CrossFit community and we will continue to raise the bar with each and every product we create.”
The big picture: In June 2020, Reebok announced it was walking away from negotiations with CrossFit to extend an official partnership after Greg Glassman’s comments sparked outrage in the CrossFit community.
- While spinning down its official relationship, Reebok has added a handful of new sponsored athletes: Amanda Barnhart, Haley Adams, Saxon Panchik, Chyna Cho, and Christian Harris.
- Currently their roster totals 15 athletes including veterans like Annie Thorisdottir, Rich Froning, Patrick Vellner and Brent Fikowski.
- Reebok already has the next Nano designed and is likely already working on the one after that, a significant lead in terms of speed to market.
- Without having the constraints of large-scale contractual obligations, Reebok will have more flexibility to invest in the sport and community of CrossFit, freeing up resources to work on more projects like Mayhem Mission’s Rescue Freedom event.