is a Japanese

sports clothing Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical sport-specific garments ...

and

accessories Accessory may refer to: * Accessory (legal term), a person who assists a criminal In anatomy * Accessory bone * Accessory muscle * Accessory nucleus, in anatomy, a cranial nerve nucleus * Accessory nerve In arts and entertainment * Accessory ( ...

company, first formed in 1935, when Takeo Ishimoto started the company in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

as Ishimoto Shoten. The company logo depicts 3 basic skiing techniques - traverse,

schuss Schuss (, German for 'shot') was the first (then unofficial) mascot of the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, featuring a stylized cartoon character wearing skis. Schuss was seen on pins and small toys. Afterwards, every Olympic Games has ...

and side-slip. Descente owns a portfolio of 16 in-house, purchased and licensed brands, among them Descente, Shiseist,

Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

(in primarily Japan and the East Asia),

Marmot Marmots are large ground squirrels in the genus ''Marmota'', with 15 species living in Asia, Europe, and North America. These herbivores are active during the summer, when they can often be found in groups, but are not seen during the winter, w ...

and

Srixon Srixon is a sports equipment brand owned by SRI Sports, SRI Sports Limited, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd., also owner of Dunlop Sport. Srixon focuses on golf, with its golf ball, balls holding the larg ...

History

The forerunner of the company, a men's retail store called Ishimoto Shoten, was founded in 1935. It started developing skiwear in 1954, and registered the Descente trademark in 1961. The "Demopants" ski pants style was launched in 1974, followed in 1979 by the "Magic Suit". A wearable heating system called the "Mobile Thermo" jacket was introduced in 1998. In 2002, the company collaborated with Academy Award-winner art director and costume designer

Eiko Ishioka was a Japanese art director, costume designer, and graphic designer known for her work in stage, screen, advertising, and print media. Noted for her advertising campaigns for the Japanese boutique chain Parco, she collaborated with sportswear ...

in creating the Vortex suits and uniforms, used by the Japanese, Swiss, Spanish and Canadian teams competing in the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

. Other developments since 2000 have included the Mizusawa Down range, the E-liner under-suit for ski and speed skating use, the ACXEL range of support bands and in 2012, Genome high performance compression wear. The company won an ISPO Gold Medal for its ALLTERRAIN Transform Jacket in 2013.

Sponsorships

Rowing

Descente have sponsored

Cambridge University Boat Club The Cambridge University Boat Club (CUBC) is the rowing club of the University of Cambridge, England. The club was founded in 1828 and has been located at the Goldie Boathouse on the River Cam, Cambridge since 1882. Nowadays, training primarily ...

in the Lightweight Boat Races since 2018.

Speed-skating

The company sponsored the United States speed-skating team in the 1970s and 1980s, including

Eric Heiden Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at the ...

, who won five gold medals at the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

wearing the gold Descente racing suit. It was also a supplier to the Canadian speed-skating team.

Skiing

The

United States Ski Team The U.S. Ski Team, operating under the auspices of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and a ...

, during the 1980s, and later, the Swiss alpine ski team was equipped with the company's

skiwear A ski suit is a suit made to be worn over the rest of the clothes when skiing or snowboarding.

Bobsled, Skeleton & Luge

Descente has equipped the German Bobled, Skeleton & Luge Team as the main sponsor.

Cycling

Descente has equipped the

7-Eleven Cycling Team The 7-Eleven Cycling Team, later the Motorola Cycling Team, was a professional cycling team founded in the U.S. in 1981 by Jim Ochowicz, a former U.S. Olympic cyclist. The team lasted 16 years, under the sponsorship of 7-Eleven through 1990 and t ...

and

Team CSC Tinkoff () was a Russian-registered professional cycling team from Russia and previously Denmark. It competed in the UCI World Tour. The team was owned by Russian Oleg Tinkov and, from 1999 until March 2015, was managed by former Tour de France w ...

, two

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour (2009–2010: ''UCI World Ranking'') is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ...

competing teams.

Baseball

The company is the official apparel and uniform sponsor of the

South Korea national baseball team The South Korean national baseball team ( ko, 대한민국 야구 국가대표팀) is the national baseball team of South Korea. It won the Baseball World Cup in 1982, and participated in the Summer Olympic Games of 1984, 1988, 1996, and 2000. At ...

having previously supplied South Korea’s under-18 team. Baseball TeamKorea IncheonAsianGames 08

Motorcycle racing

In February 2015,

Yamaha Motor Racing Yamaha MotoGP Racing or Yamaha Factory Racing is the official Italian-Japanese factory team of Yamaha in MotoGP. The team was founded in 1999 following the retirement of Wayne Rainey, who had run a factory-supported team in the 500 cc class ...

, a MotoGP World Championship team, signed an Official Sponsorship and Official Supplier agreement with Descente.

Triathlon

In April 2017, Descente became the Sports Apparel Sponsor to

British Triathlon The British Triathlon Federation (formerly the British Triathlon Association) is the national governing body for triathlon, duathlon and associated multisport in Great Britain. It administers triathlon in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel ...

, supplying the Great Britain Elite and Age-Group Teams with competition, training and travel wear.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Japan, Fashion, Companies Itochu Clothing companies of Japan Sporting goods manufacturers of Japan Companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Companies based in Osaka Prefecture Japanese companies established in 1935‎ Clothing companies established in 1935 Sportswear brands Japanese brands Swimwear manufacturers Clothing brands of Japan