Reebok's DMX technology has "begun to pick up steam,"
as "sneakers equipped" with it have "accounted for" 35%, or
$78.2M, of the company's third quarter sales of $223.5M,
according to Suzanne Kapner of TheStreet.com, who wrote that
the "popularity" of the shoes is "expected to increase, now
that Reebok has given the sneakers a facelift." While First
Security Van Kasper analyst John Stanley said the sneaker's
"problem for most of the past year" was that it was
"perceived by many retailers as ugly," Reebok has "focus[ed]
on the cosmetics." Reebok President & CEO Carl Yankowski:
"We're already getting a very positive response." Other
Reebok "initiatives in the works" include a major ad
campaign around the Classics line of "lifestyle shoes" and
the "limited release" of the Steve Francis-endorsed Blacktop
Collection. Yankowski said that the company "already has a
major retailer committed to buy half a million pairs" of the
Blacktop line, but he declined "to provide a name."
Additionally, Reebok will introduce a new line of kids
sneakers, called Traxstar.com, this Christmas. The sneakers
contain a computer chip that allows kids to measure how high
they can jump and to "compare their leaping skills with
others" on the Traxstar Web site. But Kapner wrote that
"whether these plans will be enough to pull Reebok out of
its slump is a question up for debate" and that the
company's "marketing dollars may be misspent unless Reebok
defines its image more clearly" (TheStreet.com, 11/5).
