When we sat down with Jamie Salter at ShopTalk in Las Vegas the other day, along with jeans, an untucked white button-down shirt, and a black sweater, he wore a pair of white Reebok classics, the kind that were big in the brand’s heyday in the ’80s. They looked like he had just taken them out of the box that morning. But Salter doesn’t just own Reeboks. He owns Reebok.

Or at least partly owns it. Salter is chairman and CEO of Authentic Brands Group, which he founded in 2010. ABG owns or co-owns dozens of brands, many acquired after filing for bankruptcy, like Forever 21, Brooks Brothers, and Aéropostale.

• In August, ABG announced the purchase of Reebok from Adidas for a reported $2.46 billion, considerably less than the $3.8 billion Adidas paid for the brand in 2006. The deal, which closed in February, makes Reebok the biggest asset in ABG’s portfolio, according to Salter.

Still, while the pair Salter laced up that morning looked like they had plenty of traction, the big question is: How much traction is there for Reebok itself?

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

As you were acquiring Reebok, you said you wanted to “let Reebok be Reebok.” Can you talk about what you meant?

Reebok’s got incredible history and heritage and silhouettes. And if you look at Adidas, they buy Reebok really to understand what was going on in the US because Reebok was in the pole position and doing much better than Adidas at the time.

So if I was running Adidas, I would have done exactly sort of what Adidas did, which was they looked at lots of information. And when it came to basketball, they wanted Adidas to be in the basketball business. They didn’t want Reebok to necessarily be in the basketball business. And Reebok had great endorsements. They switch those endorsements over to Adidas. When they had great league deals or team deals, they switch those over to Adidas.

We need Reebok to be Reebok and let Reebok bring back the Iverson [shoe model] in a big way, bring back the Shaq [shoe model] in a big way. And really focus on what Reebok was good at, which was product.

So if you’d been Adidas at the time, you would have done the same thing?

Look at Adidas’s business today. It’s doing pretty good, right?

With Foot Locker, the big news has been Nike withdrawing so many products to focus on more of a DTC strategy. How important is that development for Reebok?

Look, timing’s everything. Nike pulling back is definitely good for us. Nike has made a decision that they think that they’re being overdistributed. And the way that Nike will increase their e-commerce business would be by cutting off more wholesalers. So we are taking advantage of that, where, you know, they’re only gonna buy so much on the Adidas side, they’re only gonna buy so much Skechers, or Hoka, or Crocs. So at the end of the day, by Nike doing what they’re doing, you know, Reebok is definitely getting their fair share of that business. Foot Locker is going with a lot more SKUs.

Click here to read the full interview.—AAN

March was a busy month for exec moves (plus some mix-ups and comebacks), and we’re here to round up some of the notable ones:

• Domino’s CEO Ritch Allison announced his retirement, with COO and US president Russell Weiner set to take over on May 1.
• After he was found by an independent investigation to have violated the company’s code of business conduct and ethics and other policies, according to an SEC filing, Ralph Lauren chief commercial officer Howard Smith resigned after 20 years with the company.
• In a slightly confusing move, Capri Holdings said John Idol would stay on as CEO after initially naming Michael Kors CEO Joshua Schulman as his successor last year. Schulman, instead, has left the company.
• Chobani president and COO Peter McGuinness left the yogurt maker to lead Impossible Foods as CEO. A slew of other Chobani execs also departed amid delayed IPO plans.
• Howard Schultz will make his third run as Starbucks’s CEO on April 4 as current CEO and board director Kevin Johnson steps down.
• And after nearly 50 years, FedEx founder Fred Smith will vacate the CEO role on June 1, set to be replaced by COO Raj Subramaniam.

Plus, several celeb beauty brands’ C-suites got new faces. Click here to read more.—EC

Before we look ahead to Q2, Retail Brew wanted to take a moment to look back at Q1 and the articles that our readers couldn’t get enough of. Here are five of our most popular stories so far in 2022:

As the conflict in Ukraine continues, we’ve kept a running list of all the retailers halting operations in Russia in protest.

Scents are a key part of a store’s identity—even in Covid. We sniffed out how shoppers can be led by the nose.

In an exclusive, we shared that e-comm platform Canal, which links “like-minded” companies to sell each other’s stuff, landed a $22.5 million Series A.

We also mapped out how brands can make smart moves in the metaverse. But, as Charles Hambro, co-founder and CEO of Geeiq, told us: “Don’t just come in because you think it’s the cool next thing to do.”

And we introduced you to Dulma Altan, a TikToker who’s found a less traditional way to go viral: talking business. She shared tips for raising $$ and what entrepreneurs can glean from the rise of celeb beauty brands.

Altan also argued that “niching down” is an underestimated path to success for new CPG founders.

• “The mistake that a lot of people make is they’re afraid of niching down because they don’t want to lose out on potential customers,” she explained. “But the risk of that is you’re just not going to stand out to anyone when you launch because there’s so much noise.”

+1: Many claim to have a blueprint for how stores should be designed going forward. We asked a few who actually draft the blueprints about the key trends in store design today and in the future—for a weeklong series.

From a shoeless shoe store connecting e-comm with brick-and-mortar shopping to a futuristic McDonald’s in Australia on the cutting edge of experiential retail, here is what’s in store for what’s in stores.—GT

Today’s top retail reads.

Mixed bag: Bans on plastic bags mean well, but new analysis suggests they may have unintended consequences. (TechCrunch)

Final straw: Thousands of Etsy sellers say they will go on strike on April 11, when the company plans to hike transaction fees. “I can’t really afford it,” said one seller. “But I’m just that fed up.” (The Verge)

Go-getters: The names to know from the “Shopify Mafia.” (Insider)

Don’t miss it: Chargebee’s SubComm NXT ’22 is happening April 5 at 9am PT. Learn about the latest trends in the subscription e-commerce industry, hear about best-in-class solutions adopted by high-growth DTC brands (like Superfoods Company, TokyoTreat, and Pret A Manger), and network with your peers. Register for the free half-day summit right here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Amazon, FedEx, and even Chili’s delve deeper into drone delivery
• Why Canadian cities are so popular as test markets
• Montblanc on the power of the store

In honor of April Fools’ Day, we’re doing things a little differently this week. Three of the stories below are pranks...and one is not. Can you spot the real deal?

1. Hellmann’s teamed up with Butterfinger on a new “crispety crunchety” mayo.
2. Dyson announced a pair of headphones that will include an air purifier built right in.
3. Beauty companies Glamnetic and Ipsy released a set of fake eyelashes that are safe for pets.
4. Dr. Squatch dropped a beef jerky-scented soap.

Keep reading for the answer.