“Can Authentic Brands Group rebuild Reebok as a competitive DTC athletic brand by leveraging modern e-commerce infrastructure, including embedded payments and BNPL, against Nike and Adidas?”
Founded in 1958 in Bolton, England as a footwear brand, Reebok grew into a global sportswear powerhouse under Paul Fireman's leadership before being sold to Adidas in 2005. After 16 years as an Adidas subsidiary, Authentic Brands Group (ABG) acquired Reebok in 2021 and relaunched it as a direct-to-consumer brand with its own e-commerce storefront. Under ABG, Reebok has leaned into embedded finance capabilities — integrating BNPL (Klarna, Zip) at checkout and fraud prevention (Forter) — as it competes in the DTC athletic footwear and apparel market.
Reebok uses forter for fraud prevention.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in Reebok's stack: Lending (Shop Now Pay Later (Klarna) — 4 interest-free installments and Zip — 4 installments over 6 weeks); Fraud (forter).
Reebok was founded by Jeff Foster and Joe Foster and is founded in 1958, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Reebok and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.