1940s

We were born in 1949. Our founder Mr. Kihachiro Onisuka had a goal to promote a healthy lifestyle and bring up a sound youth through the spirit of sport.

Throughout the 40s as basketball grew in popularity, most students were playing barefoot. Mr. Onisuka knew that if he could perfect the basketball shoe – the most

Technically difficult to make – anything was possible.

After studying the High School basketball team in Kobe for six months and listening to their needs, our first basketball shoe was born.

1950s

Mr. Onisuka knew he could improve the first shoe performance, but how could he make a basketball shoe with superior grip? The answer stared back at him from his plate.

Suckers on the Octopus tentacle in his salad were the inspiration for the ground-breaking

Suction cup sole.

The prototype’s grip proved so strong that testers were sticking to the floor and falling over. It took many trials before the perfect sole with optimum grip and ultimate movement was produced.

1960s

We created the Nippon  60 delegation shoes for the 1960 Rome Olympics. It featured the classic rising sun motif.

In 1966, the Asics stripe design that we still use today was introduced for shoes being developed for the 1968 Olympic Games, called “Mexico Lines” the stripe has become our trademark design.

1970s

Throughout the 70s, we introduced shoes from many other sports such as Gymnastic and Super lightweight ROTE volleyball shoe.

In 1977 Mr. Onisuka joined forces with two contemporaries to create one sporting goods manufacturer. They named the Company ASICS and so the ASICS TIGER banner was born in honour of the union.