Onitsuka Co, Ltd was established in 1949 with the ultimate ideal of bringing up a sound youth through sports. The company has held onto this approach to manufacturing sports shoes to this day.
-- Kihachiro Onitsuka -- Kihachiro Onitsuka’s first shoe was very different from the trainers today – and more resembled a straw sandal than anything sporty – and was met with mockery when Yukio Matsumoto had commissioned them to be made for the Kobe High School basket ball team.
-- The first trainer--The very first official basketball shoes in Japan had a tigers face design on the arch of the foot which was to become the Onitsuka Tiger trademark.
-- Progression of 'Tiger' logo-- Matsumoto believed Basketball to be the next big thing and Onitsuka was keen to improve on his designs. He watched the team practice whenever he could and observed the movements of the feet closely – keen to replicate the sudden stop-start movements of the players.
A random plate of octopus tentacles later, and Onitsuka had the idea of putting suction cups on the bottom of the trainers. Testing proved the theory a little too effective, but with some slight adjustments – Onitsuka had cracked it! He had developed a basketball shoe that enabled the wearer to stop and start without slipping...
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When the sports stores turned down Onitsuka for not being big enough, he realised that he needed further backing before his shoes would be a success. He visited the basketball coaches of other High Schools and showed them his shoes. So impressed were they, they returned with Onitsuka to the stores to exclaim their players would be wearing his shoes. Sport stores were soon changing their minds...
By 1953 Onitsuka had broadened his interest towards running shoes
Onitsuka consulted with Top Marathon runner Tooru Terasawa about the most common problem long-distance runners suffered from – blisters. The air-cooling system of motorcycles inspired Onitsuka to use a loose cloth for the top of the shoes. This along with holes in the front and sides resulted in ‘breathable’ shoes. The final touch of a two-layered sole, and Terasawa was able to run 42km and 195 metres for the first time without getting blisters...
-- Abebe Bikila--When legendary Marathon runner Abebe Bikila won the Olympic Marathon in 1956 barefoot, Onitsuka was fearful of the future of his company. The following year, Bikila came to Japan to compete in the Mainichi Marathon. Onitsuka visited him in his hotel and asked why Bikila ran barefoot. He simply had no running shoes to run in. Onitsuka explained the dangers of running on Japan’s glass-littered floors and Bikila agreed give the Tiger running shoes a try.
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Onitsuka hurried back to the factory and gave his technicians the order to manufacture the world’s lightest pair of shoes immediately. The next day Abebe Bikila won the marathon. He wore shoes ever since.
Preparations for the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics began and GTO (sportswear manufacturer), Jelenk (knitwear manufacturer) and Onitsuka built a regional sales office together.
It turned out to be the starting point of a historic merger that made an old dream of Kihachiro Onitsuka, a complete sporting goods company, come true. After years of negotiations the deal was finalised towards the end of 1976.
In 1977 GTO, Jelenk and Onitsuka merged to form a new, strong and progressive enterprise. To find an appropriate name for their new company, the founders turned to the Ancient Romans and found an old Latin phrase:
-- ASICS --Anima Sana In Corpore Sano
(a sound mind in a sound body).
ASICS now have one of the greatest collection of retro styles
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