With this came the decision to set up a new company code to separate ASICS Europe’s treasury activities from its commercial activities. Apart from the pros, it raised new challenges too.
ASICS stands for ‘Anima Sana In Corpore Sano’, loosely translated ‘a sound mind in a sound body’. This Japanese company was founded by Kihachiro Onitsuka in 1949. He felt that Japanese youth, who had lived through World War II, were in the process of being derailed and had too few pursuits. Onitsuka wanted to bring back the healthy life through sports, which demanded proper sportswear. And so, he decided to produce basketball shoes under the name Onitsuka Tiger.
Inventive like octopus
Onitsuka strived for perfection and innovation. One of the anecdotes about the origin of the ASICS basketball shoes is that he came up with an inventive idea when eating octopus salad from a bowl. During that diner, a leg of the animal stuck to the side of the bowl. When Onitsuka realized this was because of the animal’s suction cups, he decided to design basketball shoes with tiny suction cups on the sole for more grip. It turned out to be a revolutionary idea.
Another remarkable fact is that Nike-founder Phil Knight started his career at ASICS. When he visited the Onitsuka Tiger office in 1963, he was impressed by the inventive sports shoes and asked Onitsuka to become their sales agent in the US. After a few years working for ASICS Knight decided to start his own sports brand.
The tiger stripes go global
During the years after foundation, the range of sports activities provided by Onitsuka expanded to include a variety of Olympic styles used by athletes around the world. The current ASICS brand signature, the crossed stripes that appear on the side of all the shoes, was first introduced in 1966 during the pre-Olympic trials for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Martial arts star Bruce Lee was the first international celebrity to popularize this design. In 1977, Onitsuka Tiger merged with GTO and JELENK to form ASICS Corporation. Despite the name change, a vintage range of ASICS shoes is still produced and sold internationally under the Onitsuka Tiger label.
In 1977, ASICS opened a first small European office in Düsseldorf, in the home garage of a representative. This German city had a relatively large Japanese community and was centrally located in Europe. In 1995, ASICS Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) relocated to a new headquarters in the Netherlands, from where more subsidiaries were established, and the ASICS network further expanded. The company built and rented several large distribution centers in Europe. In addition, the sales channels broadened from traditional wholesale to opening ASICS stores – first outlet stores, followed by a flagship store and e-commerce. Today, the brand sells all items through omnichannel.