The latest set of accounts filed by Reebok International Limited and its subsidiary RILUK IPCO Limited show both revenue and profits revenue rising in 2024.
Reebok
RILUK IPCO is a company registered in Britain but it operates the activities of the Reebok brand from a branch in New York, while Rebook International serves as the holding company for it within the group of businesses owned by Authentic Brands Group.
And there’s no denying that the headline numbers look good for a brand that was a perennial underperformer for years as group profits after tax rose from $163.55 million to $179.93 million. The company said this was driven by expanding revenues as the global Reebok business grew, with improvements in the performance of licensees and expansion through new partners.
Revenue — which was wholly comprised of global royalty income — rose to $302.489 million from $276.436 million in 2023. Operating profit rose to $192.37 million from $176.83 million and the company paid less income tax this time at $12.43 million compared to $13.27 million in the previous year.
Authentic acquired Reebok from Adidas in March 2022 and following the initial transition period to the trading arrangements of Authentic, with its external retail operating partners, profitability was further boosted by reduced marketing and other business overheads together with an increased number of licenses with strong minimum contractual amounts. This is expected to continue to enhance profits and provide the group with significant cash inflows. The company continues to look for new product categories to expand into.
The results didn’t contain a huge amount of detail and there was no hint of how the current year has gone. However, despite the tough conditions out there, it’s to be hoped that this year will also prove to be a strong one. The business has been signing new agreements in 2025 with June seeing the announcement of a deal with Slam Jam, a European premium lifestyle company, to expand Reebok’s presence across the US, Canada, and Central and Eastern Europe.
And in February, it had said Galaxy Universal was taking over Reebok’s footwear operation, retail stores, and e-commerce, as well as leading the sportswear maker’s global product creation, design, and sourcing.
Meanwhile, GB Brands Europe Limited — a new joint venture between Galaxy and Batra Group — was named to oversee Reebok’s operations across Europe and the UK.
The Calida Group is strengthening its Board of Directors. This move aims to broaden the Board’s expertise in retail and the textile industry and to reinforce the Group’s strategic direction. The focus is on increasing efficiency in product development and brand communications for Calida and Aubade.
Chairman of the Board of Directors Felix Sulzberger regards the strengthening of the Board as a major opportunity to provide fresh impetus. – CALIDA GROUP
With this in mind, the Board of Directors intends to propose to the shareholders of the Swiss lingerie company at the Annual General Meeting on April 15, 2026 the election of Caroline Forster and Nicole Loeb as additional members.
Caroline Forster is an experienced leader and, since 2008, has served as co-CEO of the St. Gallen-based Forster Group, which operates globally. The family-owned company, with around 850 employees, produces embroidery for haute couture, prêt-à-porter, interiors, and lingerie, as well as technical textiles. She brings many years of leadership experience in both operational and strategic roles and has held various board and industry positions since 2007. She was also a member of the Executive Committee of economiesuisse until the end of 2024.
Nicole Loeb is an experienced entrepreneur and a prominent leader in Swiss retail. Since 2005, as delegate of the Board of Directors of Loeb Holding and chair of the Board of Directors of Loeb AG, she has shaped the strategic development of the long-established, independent Swiss retail company headquartered in Bern. She holds a degree in textile business management and is also active in key industry and business organisations, including as a board member of the Swiss Retail Federation and on the regional economic advisory board of the Swiss National Bank.
“I am delighted that, with Caroline Forster and Nicole Loeb, we can propose two renowned and successful entrepreneurs and leaders for election to the Board of Directors. Thanks to their proven experience in the textile industry and retail, they will provide valuable impetus for the strategic development of the Calida Group. I am convinced that, drawing on insights from their own family businesses, they will help shape our Group’s future strategic direction in a lasting way,” said Felix Sulzberger, chairman of the Board of Directors.
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Prada will make a limited-edition collection of sandals in India inspired by the country’s traditional footwear, selling each pair at around 800 euros ($930), Prada senior executive Lorenzo Bertelli told Reuters, turning a backlash over cultural appropriation into a collaboration with Indian artisans.
The Italian luxury group plans to make 2,000 pairs of the sandals in the regions of Maharashtra and Karnataka under a deal with two state-backed bodies, blending local Indian craftsmanship with Italian technology and know-how.
“We’ll mix the original manufacturer’s standard capabilities with our manufacturing techniques,” Bertelli, who is chief marketing officer and head of corporate social responsibility, told Reuters in an interview. The collection will go on sale in February 2026 across 40 Prada stores worldwide and online, the company said. Prada faced criticism six months ago after showing sandals resembling 12th-century Indian footwear, known as Kolhapuri chappals, at a Milan show. Photos went viral, prompting outrage from Indian artisans and politicians. Prada later admitted its design drew from ancient Indian styles and began talks with artisan groups for collaboration.
It has now signed an agreement with Sant Rohidas Leather Industries and Charmakar Development Corporation (LIDCOM) and Dr Babu Jagjivan Ram Leather Industries Development Corporation (LIDKAR), which promote India’s leather heritage. “We want to be a multiplier of awareness for these chappals,” said Bertelli, who is the eldest son of Prada founders Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli.
A three-year partnership, whose details are still being finalised, will be set up to train local artisans. The initiative will include training programmes in India and opportunities to spend short periods at Prada’s Academy in Italy.
Chappals originated in Maharashtra and Karnataka and are handcrafted by people from marginalised communities. Artisans hope the collaboration will raise incomes, attract younger generations to the trade and preserve heritage threatened by cheap imitations and declining demand.
“Once Prada endorses this craft as a luxury product, definitely the domino effect will work and result in increasing demand for the craft,” said Prerna Deshbhratar, LIDCOM managing director. Bertelli said the project and training programme would cost “several million euros”, adding that artisans would be fairly remunerated.
Bertelli said Prada, which opened its first beauty store in Delhi this year, has no plans for new retail clothing shops next year or factories in India. “We have not planned yet any store openings in India, but it’s something that we are strongly taking into consideration,” he said, adding that this could come in three to five years.
The luxury goods market in India was valued at around $7 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach about $30 billion by 2030, according to Deloitte, as economic growth accelerates to 7% this year and disposable income among the middle and upper classes rises. The market, however, is dwarfed by China, which generated about 350 billion yuan ($49.56 billion) in value in 2024, according to Bain.
Most global brands have entered India through partnerships with large conglomerates like Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance group and Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Aditya Birla Group. Bertelli said that Prada would prefer to enter the country on its own, even if it took longer, describing India as “the real potential new market.”
London-based Save Your Wardrobe (SYW) and France’s Fairly Made are joining forces to deliver what they say will be “Europe’s most advanced end-to-end circularity infrastructure”.
Save Your Wardrobe
SYW operates an AI-powered wardrobe management app while Fairly Made has developed a solution for measuring the environmental impact of products. Now they’ve announced a “strategic partnership designed to help brands meet Europe’s next generation of sustainability expectations”.
They said that “as new regulations reshape how products are designed, managed, and cared for- from eco-design and digital product passports to France’s Bonus Réparation and evolving EPR requirements, brands need a connected view of impact across the full lifecycle. This partnership brings together two complementary strengths that enable exactly that”.
As part of the link-up, SYW “plans to deliver the infrastructure powering aftersales excellence, including diagnostics, repairability scoring, automation, and nationwide repair operations”. Meanwhile, Fairly Made will support this with “upstream capabilities across supply-chain traceability, multi-criteria impact measurement, and digital product passport readiness”.
The plan is that they will offer enterprise brands a “360° circularity solution that supports eco-design, compliance, and measurable lifecycle extension”.
They said their goal is to help brands “move toward a future where circularity is not an ambition, but a connected, measurable, and scalable reality”.
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