Onitsuka Tiger vector logo
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About Onitsuka Tiger
Onitsuka Tiger is one of the oldest shoe companies in Japan, tracing its history back to the formation of Onitsuka Co Ltd in 1949 when the 32 year old former military officer, Kihachiro Onitsuka started his company with the hopes of raising postwar youth self-esteem through athletics.
Onitsuka Tiger’s first product was a basketball shoe resembling a straw sandal in many ways. The design was discarded by many and Onitsuka returned to the design stage to better acclimate his shoes for the way in which 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 Tooru Terasaw in 1953 to develop a running shoe that would keep long distance runners from developing blisters. Legendary 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.
In the late 1950s, University of Oregon middle-distance runner Philip Knight was coached by Bill Bowerman, 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. Afer 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.
In 1968, Blue Ribbon Sports started importing LIMBER UP to the American market.
In 1964, Onitsuka listed the company on the Kobe Stock Exchange and later on the exchanges of Osaka and Tokyo. The ASICS stripe was first introduced in 1966 during the pre-olympic trials for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. LIMBER was the first model to feature ASICS stripeson the side of the upper section. These lines were the famous design icon on another Onitsuka tiger shoe, the LIMBER leather, now called MEXICO 66.
In the 1970s, Onitsuka Tiger introduced the FABRE, standing for the FAstBREak move in basketball. The Japanese team wore the FABRE at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, where they finished 14th. Finnish runner Lasse Viren won both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters in Munich while wearing Onitsuka Tiger’s. In 1972, GTO, Jelenk, and Onitsuka combined their financial and athletic positions to build a regional sales office near Hokkaido for the Sapporo Winter Olympics that would lead to the eventual 1977 merger of all three companies known as ASICS. Today, the company is still known as ASICS and provides shoes to retailers around the globe. The ASICS acronym stands for “Anima Sana in Corpore Sano” or “A Healthy Soul in a Healthy Body.”, an adaptation of the ancient aphorism in Juvenal and elsewhere, “Mens sana in corpore sano”. The company has recently placed significant emphasis on the translation of the acronym.
