Avia Sets Stage For Comeback Reebok Subsidiary Goes Back To Basics To Regain Lost Ground

Avia Group International Inc. is turning back to fitness and aerobics shoes for women to rebuild its share of an athletic shoe market dominated by neighboring Nike Inc.

“It’s simple, really; we just need to tell them we’re back,” said Kate Bednarski, who was named Avia’s vice president for global marketing in October.

Avia’s revenue peaked around $200 million in 1988 and 1989 and hasn’t come close while competitors have doubled and tripled their sales.

Its parent company, the Massachusetts-based Reebok International Ltd., has its own problems. In fact, Reebok tried for four months this summer to sell Avia, driving away some top employees and rattling retailers.

Bednarski, who worked for Avia back in its glory days of the late 1980s, said she was willing to return despite an uncertain future.

“To me it doesn’t matter,” she said. “I’m here to lead Avia back.”

For now, Bednarski is part of an executive “troika” consisting of Nick Kartalis, Avia’s new vice president for customer service and sales, and chief executive Robert Slattery.

Slattery, longtime former head of another Reebok subsidiary, The Rockport Co., came out of retirement to head Avia last spring.

Avia, founded in Oregon in 1980, was sold to Reebok in 1987 when Avia sales had roared to $153 million, more than double the previous 12 months.

Managers and investors, hoping to cash in on the company’s success, had taken the first steps toward an initial public stock offering when Reebok swooped in.

Despite some misgivings about lost independence, Reebok’s offer was just too large to turn down, said Bruce McGregor, then a senior Avia marketing manager.

“By any measure, $181 million was a preemptive offer,” he said.

But life as a satellite of Planet Reebok may have eclipsed Avia’s momentum as Avia’s basketball shoes declined in popularity and a new cross-trainer bombed.

Revenues, which hit $161 million in 1992, fell to $131 million in 1993 before rebounding to $153 million last year.

While sales may dip again this year, the new team in charge at Avia expects to see improvement once its retrenchment strategy takes effect.