ASICS

ASICS
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ASICS Ltd.

Type	Limited
Founded	1949
Founder(s)	Kihachiro Onitsuka
Headquarters	Chūō-ku, Kobe, Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Kiyomi Wada (Chairman) Motoi Oyama (President)
Industry	Sportswear Sports Equipment
Products	Athletic shoes Apparel Sports equipment
Employees	(March 2007) 23,972
Website	Asics.com

ASICS (株式会社アシックス, Kabushiki-gaisha Ashikkusu^?) (TYO: 7936) is an athletic equipment company that started in 1949 when Kihachiro Onitsuka began manufacturing sports shoes at his home in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Asics produces shoes designed for football, running, tennis, squash,martial arts, cricket, golf, wrestling, track & field, cross-training, volleyball, cheerleading, lacrosse, and for many other sports.

Initially the company was known as Onitsuka Tiger, and was famous for their Mexico 66 line of shoes and their distinctive stripes. In 1977, Onitsuka Tiger merged with GTO and JELENK to form ASICS Corporation. Despite the name change, a vintage range of Asics shoes are still produced and sold internationally under the Onitsuka Tiger label.

The name of the company "ASICS" is an acronym of the Latin phrase "anima sana in corpore sano" which translates to "a healthy soul in a healthy body" or "a sound mind in a sound body".¹ Since 2007 there has been a larger emphasis placed on this acronym.

1 2006
2 Sponsorship
3 References
4 External links

2006

A pair of ASICS wrestling shoes, model Split Second V

In its 2006 fiscal year, ASICS generated 171 billion Yen in net sales and 13 billion yen in net income. Sixty-six percent of the company's income comes from the sale of sports shoes, 24 percent from sportswear, and 10 percent from sports equipment. 49 percent of the company's sales are in Japan, 18 percent in North America, and 29 percent in Europe. Currently, the company has 3800 employees.

Sponsorship

A pair of ASICS running shoes, model GEL-Kinsei

Asics sponsors many nationally ranked NAIA and NCAA men’s and women’s teams, as well as the national teams of: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. The company also sponsors individuals and teams that compete in the sports of volleyball, football, netball, athletics, cricket, tennis, triathlon, and wrestling. Recently ASICS was the official apparel sponsor of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Asics also supplied apparel to the Italian, Dutch, Irish, Korean and Australian teams that competed at the 2007 World Athletic Championships in Osaka, Japan.

During the early to late 1990s, ASICS supplied kit for a number of British football teams, including Coventry City, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United, Leeds United, Aston Villa, and Bradford City.

Among the football users of ASICS are: