Reebok transformed a central London pub into ‘The Reebok Arms’ to launch their latest campaign celebrating the return of the iconic Workout Plus. For one night only, the venue brought together stars from the campaign including K-Trap, Lisa Maffia, MC Bushkin, Gully Guy Leo and Jessy Law for an evening hosted by Hemah and Stxphnotsteve, featuring live performances from Nicole Blakk and JD Cliffe, the first public screenings of ‘The Give Back’, the campaign's new film series, and quick-fire Q&As with the campaign talent, alongside a host of bespoke touches, from Reebok-branded coasters to a traditional hanging pub sign featuring the brand’s logo.
The campaign marks the latest chapter in the return of the Workout Plus. Originally introduced as a performance training shoe, the silhouette has since become a staple of British streetwear, with Reebok's latest campaign broadening the focus beyond the trainer itself to the wider culture that helped shape its legacy.
At the heart of the campaign is ‘The Give Back’, the three-part short film series that follows K-Trap through a tongue-in-cheek heist inspired by the playful British crime capers of the late ‘90s and early 2000s. Instead of stealing, he’s giving back – hand-delivering pairs of Workout Plus trainers to a cast of characters drawn from across British life, from gassed schoolkids to the bossman at the local chippy. Along the way, the films drop a series of references, from pubs and fish and chip shops to UK garage, drill, Cockney slang and London street style, creating a world grounded in familiar details of British culture.
Alongside K-Trap, the films feature an eclectic cast drawn from music, streetwear and even TV. UK garage pioneer Lisa Maffia becomes ‘The Duchess’, while Heartless Crew’s MC Bushkin plays ‘Busy Tone’. They're joined by streetwear tastemaker Gully Guy Leo as ‘Baby Face’, sneaker collector and writer Jessy Law as ‘The Outlaw’, and none other than EastEnders’ Laila Morse – best known as Big Mo – as ‘Doris’.
Speaking to Complex at the launch, the cast said the themes running through The Give Back mirror their own experiences and relationships with their communities, with British street culture and with the Workout Plus. “I feel like the whole campaign feels familiar to me: giving back to the little kids, being mindful and being nice to the elderly – that’s all part of the culture, man,” said K-Trap. Lisa Maffia says getting involved was an easy decision because “Reebok is a brand that connects to the new school, but everyone old school knows it – they were one of the best brands that I remember from back in the day. If you got a pair of Reeboks, you made it.”
For Heartless Crew’s MC Bushkin, the Workout Plus offered a versatility that helped make it a staple of British street culture. “Back in the day, the Workout Plus was the original trainer that you could wear to play football in and then go out in.” The shoes’ versatility extended into working life, too. “I would drop my all-black Workouts with my smart clothes and no one was saying anything to me.”
Asked about UK garage’s wider cultural impact, Lisa Maffia said: “Garage is still here 25 years later. No one can tell us it wasn’t whole generations after generations' favourite music. We've never left.” Bushkin sums it up neatly: “Garage was more than music. It was like a way of life. It was culture. It was a community. It was the dress code. It was the swagger. It was the Reeboks.”
To see more on ‘The Give Back’ and to shop the Workout Plus visit Reebok.eu
