wulf:sport

Asics

Asics is a Japanese company that officially began to operate in Kobe in 1949 under the name of Onitsuka Co. Ltd. Its founder Kihachiro Onitsuka wanted to encourage Japanese young people to take up sports after World War 2. The lack of experience did not get in the way of Onitsuka’s ambitions and enthusiasm – deriving ideas from every walk of life and introducing new materials, Onitsuka Co. Ltd. was the first Japanese company to make a basketball shoe (the popular Bashu, with a tiger head image on the sole, which has eventually become a trademark of Asics), and soon afterwards volleyball shoes, their soles made of vulcanized rubber. The company achieved international success and became popular among Olympic athletes. After winning at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, breaking the world record and becoming the first African to receive a gold medal at the Olympics, even the famous Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila, who had always run barefoot, decided to put on the Magic Runner on Onitsuka’s suggestion, his lightweight shoes with a special ventilation system to prevent foot heating. Of course, four years later at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Bikila once again broke the marathon record and won the Olympic gold. In 1977, the company changed its name to Asics, which is actually an acronym for the Latin saying Anima sana in corpore sano (sound mind in a sound body), and Asics remained a favorite brand among Olympic athletes. It is now clear that innovation is the key to this brand’s success, making a revolution in the world of sports by implementing its philosophy in design. A scientific approach to manufacturing and design and determination to create a quality original product resulted in highly innovative sport footwear for men and women and quality equipment for athletes. By using technological innovations such as synthetic fibers, EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate), solyte, V-mesh, gel cushions, the Impact Guidance System (IGS) and Biomorphic, Asics created some of the most comfortable and, performance-wise, the best pieces of sport footwear both for top active athletes and those engaging in sports as a form of recreation.