Todd Krinsky<\/b>\u00a0started working in the mailroom at\u00a0Reebok<\/b>\u00a0as a youngster. He now serves as the Global Vice President of Lifestyle and Entertainment Marketing for the resurgent brand. Not only is he responsible for one of the most popular sneakers in Reebok history, but he has also played a major role in the brand’s return to prominence. Snkrs Day sat down with Todd during the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Reebok Classic Leather at SOB’s in New York City to discuss everything Reebok.<\/p>\n
Snkrs Day: Reebok has definitely had a resurgence of late. What goes into selecting the celebrities or endorsers you team with?<\/strong><\/p>\n Todd Krinsky: First, it starts with the idea that we want to start with artists that believe in the brand. Either they\u2019ve grown up with the brand, or have seen the movement, and want to be a part of it. We are not signing a lot of artists and creating sneaker lines with them like we did back in the day. What we did then was cool, but that was a moment in time. I think now we\u2019re looking to really get involved with artists who really want to be a part of the brand and the movement.<\/p>\n Todd Krinsky with music producer and Reebok Creative Director Swizz Beatz\n Snkrs Day: Is that how the three artists were chosen for the Reebok Classic Leather \u201cCity Series\u201d campaign?<\/strong><\/p>\n Todd Krinsky: We wanted to sign some young, emerging, up-and-coming artists. Artists that really kind of have their own movement. So when you look at Travi$ (Scott) and Ace (Hood), these guys have their own brand. They are driving their own brand. They fit with our Reebok persona. They are from some markets down south where Classics were really big, such as Florida and Texas. So, it\u2019s cool to have some young artists from the south because Reebok Classics were so big in the south back in the day. It really makes a lot of sense from a cultural perspective.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: Though you are celebrating the Reebok Classic Leather’s 30th anniversary, it seems like the shoe never truly went away. However, some new and fresh ideas have been presented via collaborations. How do you select which non-musical entities that you are going to work with to collaborate on a shoe, such as with the \u201cCity Series\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n Todd Krinsky: The Classic has been around 30 years. There are only a few shoes in our entire industry that are timeless silhouettes, and the Classic Leather is one of them. We did take the shoe out of the market for a while so we could create that prestige again. When you bring it back, you have to bring it back in the right way. Stash is a legend in the graffiti world. He\u2019s like a godfather of that whole genre, and he has this really cool group of artists. When we got with them, we wanted only wanted to do stuff with him. However, he thought we should also get this next generation of artists from all over the world. I think it just brings the Reebok Classic Leather to a new level. It\u2019s a really clean silhouette, so when these young cats put their twist to it with their art, it\u2019s really cool. It\u2019s a really new look.<\/p>\n Stash x Reebok Classic Leather “City Series”\n Todd Krinsky: I look at the business in two ways: in classic and in sport. On the classic side, it\u2019s the timeless Classic Leather. On the sports side, it\u2019s the Reebok Question Mid. For me, it\u2019s because I was so young at the time, I had no idea what I was doing. Allen Iverson had no idea what he was doing. We basically just sat in a room, and tried to figure it out together. Now, 15 years later, it\u2019s one of the longest running shoe legacies. It\u2019s a special thing in my heart to see 14 and 15-year-old kids waiting in line for the shoe when they didn\u2019t even know about the shoe [when it first came out]. For example, we just sold out of the \u201cGeorgetown\u201d colorway. They didn\u2019t even know he went to Georgetown [laughs]. They are learning about AI through us, which is cool.<\/p>\n Todd Krinsky with Allen Iverson\n Snkrs Day: Speaking of Allen Iverson, Shaq, Shawn Kemp, and AI’s retro signatures have all been successful. How do you decide which of the retro basketball sneakers to release?<\/strong><\/p>\n Todd Krinsky: First, we listen to the Internet chatter as much as we can. The kids tell us what they want. It\u2019s not us telling them. With the Internet and all the sneaker sites making it topical, it\u2019s easier than it used to be. Back in the day, when I was coming up, we had to go into focus groups, talk to kids, and go all over the world [laughs]. Now, all you have to go is go on the Internet to see what people are talking about, and you can figure it out. That\u2019s what we try to do a lot of. We also have kind of have a good feel. Once we put a shoe out, we see how it does and get a feel for what people want by how quickly it sells. For instance, the Kamikaze II. That was crazy, especially with the special colorways. That silhouette was really strong with the colors. We know right away the original Kamikaze needs to come out, so we are doing that. We learn a lot from what we launch, and we listen to what kids say. Some of it is just a gut feeling, though. A lot of us have been in the business for a long time, and we have a gut feeling for what we think is going to work.<\/p>\n
\nSnkrs Day: Is the Classic Leather your favorite Reebok model of all time?<\/strong><\/p>\n