Asics shoes are some of my favorite brand of running shoes, with their lightweight yet cushioned design, and I’ve written about the Asics Tiger line of shoes before in the past. Today, I just wanted to do a quick post on the history of Asics Tigers, and how the shoes got their name.
Asics was started back in 1969, almost exactly 60 years ago, by a Japanese man by the name of Kihachiro Onitsuka. The original name of the company was not Asics, but rather “Onitsuka Co., Ltd” (named after the founder). Originally, they started by manufacturing shoes basketball shoes, but soon expanded into other lines of sports shoes as well.
Their main manufacturer of Onitsuka Co was Tiger Rubber Company located in Kobe, Japan, and in 1957 Tiger Rubber Company was reorganized into Onitsuka Co, Ltd, from which point the company came to be known as “Onitsuka Tiger Ltd”.
It wasn’t until 1969 that Onitsuka Tiger started to an eye towards international marketing, and renamed the company ASICS Industry Co Ltd. The name ASICS is an acronym for the phrase “anima sana in corpore sano”, which is Latin for “a healthy soul in a healthy body”, which came to be the motto of the company.
Even though the company was renamed to ASICS (and later Asics), the shoes continued to be marketed under the Onitsuka brand at home, and in some locations abroad, and Asics eventually came out with a line of shoes that bore the name Asics Tiger (or affectionately known as the Asics “Onitsuka” Tiger). These shoes came to be known for their colorful, retro look, and became a mainstay of the Asics sports shoe lineup.
So that, in brief, is the history of the Asics Tiger shoe. Asics is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, and they are planning to launch a couple of exclusive shoes commemorating this milestone, so keep your eyes out for the latest Asics Tigers!
-Takeshi, shopping blogger and asics historian
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