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ASICS Ltd.

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Type	Public
Traded as	TYO: 7936
Industry	Sportswear Sports Equipment
Founded	1949
Founder(s)	Kihachiro Onitsuka
Headquarters	Kobe, Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Kiyomi Wada (Chairman) Motoi Oyama (President)
Products	Athletic shoes Apparel Sports equipment
Revenue	¥ 224.4 Billion (As of March 31, 2010)
Operating income	¥ 17.6 Billion (As of March 31, 2010)
Net income	¥ 8.3 Billion (As of March 31, 2010)
Employees	ca. 5350[1]
Subsidiaries	Haglöfs ASICS Europe B.V. ASICS Sports Corporation ASICS Tiger Corporation ASICS Tiger do Brasil Ltda. ASICS Tiger Oceana Pty.
Website	www.asics.com

ASICS is a Japanese athletic equipment company. ASICS produces professional footwear and sports equipment designed for football, running, netball, tennis, badminton, squash, martial arts, cricket, golf, wrestling, track & field, cross-training, volleyball, cheerleading, lacrosse, and for many other sport disciplines. In recent years their running shoes have often been ranked among the top performance footwear in the market.^[2][3][4] ASICS bought the outdoor brand Haglöfs on July 12, 2010 for SEK1,000,000,000 ($128.7 million).^[5]

History[link]

ASICS Ltd. began as Panmure Co., Ltd on September 1, 1949.^[6] Its founder, Kihachiro Onitsuka, began manufacturing basketball shoes in his home town of Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Soon after the range of sports activities widened to a variety of Olympic styles used throughout the '50s, '60s and '70s by athletes worldwide. Onitsuka became particularly renowned for the Mexico 66^[7] design, in which the distinctive crossed stripes, now synonymous with the company brand, were featured for the first time. 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 "Healthy Soul in a Healthy Body",^[8] which derives from the aphorism mens sana in corpore sano or Thales' saying Νοῦς ὑγιὴς ἐν σώματι ὑγιεῖ.. Since 2007 there has been a larger emphasis placed on this acronym, and its translation has been truncated for advertising purposes to "Sound Mind, Sound Body".

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. Forty-nine percent of the company's sales are in Japan, 28 percent in North America, and 19 percent in Europe.

On 4 October 2011 it was announced that ASICS will be the new official kit manufacturer for the Australian Cricket Team replacing German manufacturer Adidas.

Sponsorship[link]

Gallery[link]

• 

  A pair of ASICS wrestling shoes, model Split Second V

• Kinsei.jpg

  A pair of ASICS running shoes, model GEL-Kinsei

See also[link]

• List of ASICS sponsorships
• List of swimwear brands

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: ASICS

• ASICS Worldwide