Onitsuka Tiger (co-branded as Asics Tiger since 2022) is a Japanese sports fashion brand started in 1949 by Onitsuka Shōkai (鬼塚商会, Onitsuka Co., Ltd), a sports shoes company founded by Kihachiro Onitsuka. Onitsuka Shōkai changed its name several times before becoming
Asics Corporation in 1977. Since 1977, Onitsuka Tiger has been sold as a lifestyle brand of Asics.
History
Early days
Onitsuka Tiger's first product was a basketball shoe resembling a straw sandal. The shoe was a failure, and Onitsuka returned to the design stage to focus on the way basketball players started and stopped on the floor. By adding cups and small spaces in the soles of his basketball shoes, Onitsuka made a more effective shoe in 1952 which soon became popular throughout Japan.
In 1955, the company increased its business to 500 sports shops across Japan.
Onitsuka Tiger worked with marathon runner
Toru Terasawa
is a former Japanese long-distance runner who on February 17, 1963 set a world record in the marathon with a time of 2:15:16 at the Beppu Marathon. Terasawa placed second in the marathon at the 1964 Japanese Olympic trials and 15th at the 1964 S ...
in 1953 to develop a running shoe that would keep long distance runners from developing blisters. Ethiopian runner
Abebe Bikila started wearing Onitsuka Tiger shoes in 1957, the first time in his running career he had ever worn shoes, convinced by Onitsuka that they would be superior to his barefoot style.
The shoes were also worn in 1958 by short-distance runner Oliver Skilton when he won bronze in the Continental European games. In 1959, the sneakers brand launched the ''Magic Runner'' with improved technology on ventilation to prevent blisters and build comfort.
Early partnership with Nike
In the late 1950s, University of Oregon middle-distance runner
Philip Knight
Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and chairman ''emeritus'' of Nike, Inc., and was previously chairman and CEO of the company. As of October 3, 2022, Knight was ranked ...
was coached by
Bill Bowerman
William Jay Bowerman (February 19, 1911 – December 24, 1999) was an American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc. Over his career, he trained 31 Olympic athletes, 51 All-Americans, 12 American record-holders, 22 NCAA champio ...
, one of the top coaches in the US. Bowerman was also known for experimenting with the design of running shoes to make them lighter and more shock-absorbent. After attending Oregon, Knight continued his studies at Stanford University, where he wrote his MBA thesis on the marketing of athletic shoes. After receiving his degree, Knight travelled to Japan where he contacted Onitsuka Tiger Co. Ltd, and convinced the company that their product had a market in the US. In 1963, Knight received his first shipment of Tiger shoes, and later he and Bowerman invested $500 each to form Blue Ribbon Sports (later known as
Nike, Inc.).
Development of brands
![ASICS](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/ASICS.Onitsuka_Tiger.Mexico_66.White.Blue.Red.JPG)
In 1964, Onitsuka listed the company on the Kobe Stock Exchange and later on the exchanges of Osaka and Tokyo.
Onitsuka launched its "Olympic Line" after years of gathering suggestions from top athletes. This series marked the introduction of the Asics trademark design of two vertical lines intersecting a pair of lines emanating from the heel of the shoe, said to provide reinforcement as well as decoration. The first shoes to feature the Tiger Stripes were the Mexico 66 model, introduced two years before the
1968 Olympic Games in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
.
In 1968, Blue Ribbon Sports started importing Onitsuka to the American market, including the TG-4 "Marathons", with nylon uppers and flat rubber soles, and their training shoe, the "Cortez", with an all-leather white upper and thickly padded soles. They also had an all-around exercise shoe called the "Bangkok" and racing spikes. Blue Ribbon Sports had their first store on the East Coast in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, which was very near the
Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...
route. Jeff Johnson was the manager, and he would attend many AAU meets, as well as high school cross country races, where he would be commonly seen selling his Onitsuka brand shoes from the trunk of his red
Austin-Healey 3000 sports car.
In the 1970s, Onitsuka Tiger introduced the "Fabre", standing for the
fast break move in basketball. The Japanese team wore the Fabre at the
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
in Munich, where they finished 14th. In 1972, sportswear companies GTO, Jelenk, and Onitsuka combined their financial and athletic positions to build a regional sales office near
Hokkaido
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
for the
1972 Winter Olympics
The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...
.
In 1977, all sports brands of the company were merged into the brand Asics.
In 1976, Finnish runner
Lasse Virén
Lasse Artturi Virén (born 22 July 1949) is a Finnish former long-distance runner, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. Virén recaptured the image of the "Flying Finns" promoted by runners like Hannes Kolehmainen, Paa ...
won both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the
1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...
in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
while wearing Onitsuka Tigers, after having worn
Adidas
Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
while winning those events in the 1972 Olympics. Today, the company is still known as Asics and provides shoes to retailers around the globe.
2000s relaunch
![Onitsuka Tiger shop 2016 (25908953781)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Onitsuka_Tiger_shop_2016_%2825908953781%29.jpg)
The brand was then abandoned and relaunched in 2002, capitalizing on the new trend of vintage sneakers. In 2003,
Uma Thurman wore gold-colored Onitsuka Taichi sneakers with black stripes with her yellow outfit in the movie ''
Kill Bill
''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a team of assassins (Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, and Vivica A. Fox) an ...
''.
By 2007, the brand had opened 23 standalone stores.
In 2008, Onitsuka Tiger launched a premium series, ''Nippon Made''.
In 2009, to celebrate its 60-year anniversary, Onitsuka Tiger launched its history book ''Made of Japan''. In 2015, Onitsuka Tiger partnered with US-based design company Bait to create a
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...
series.
In 2017, sales of the brand grew by 20% to 31.9 billion yen.
In July 2017, Onitsuka Tiger launched what it publicized as the first
augmented reality
Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...
sneakers, but was merely an app animating the shoe's logo on a phone screen.
Description
Since Onitsuka Tiger was incorporated in 1949, shoes have been created for football, running, martial arts, basketball, cheerleading, volleyball, cross-training, track and field, wrestling, golf, cricket, fencing, and tennis. The most famous brand of Onitsuka Tiger shoes is the striped Mexico 66 Line.
Asics still sells vintage style Onitsuka Tiger shoes, including the Mexico 66. The Asics acronym stands for "Anima Sana in Corpore Sano" or "A Healthy Soul in a Healthy Body", an adaptation of the ancient aphorism from Roman poet
Juvenal
Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the ''Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...
, "
Mens sana in corpore sano
''Mens sana in corpore sano'' () is a Latin phrase, usually translated as "a healthy mind in a healthy body". The phrase is widely used in sporting and educational contexts to express that physical exercise is an important or essential part of men ...
".
In Asics' portfolio, the Asics brand is oriented towards sports performance, while the Onitsuka Tiger brand is imprinted in the casual sneaker fashion.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Asics
Clothing companies established in 1949
Shoe companies of Japan
1949 establishments in Japan