The brand began in 1949 when Kihachiro Onitsuka started making basketball shoes in his living room in Kobe, Japan. He was driven by a mission to help lift the spirits of young people in post-war Japan through sports. The early years were marked by innovation – Onitsuka famously studied octopus tentacles to design better grip patterns for basketball shoes, leading to their distinctive suction-cup sole design.
The watershed moment came in the 1960s. A young Phil Knight, who would later co-found Nike, discovered Onitsuka Tiger while traveling in Japan. He was so impressed that he became their U.S. distributor under his company Blue Ribbon Sports – which would eventually evolve into Nike. This period saw Onitsuka Tiger gaining significant recognition in international athletics, particularly with their Mexico 66 model, which featured the now-iconic crossed stripes design.
However, by the 1970s, Onitsuka Tiger merged with two other companies to form ASICS (an acronym for “Anima Sana In Corpore Sano” – “A Sound Mind in a Sound Body”). The original Onitsuka Tiger brand was somewhat dormant until its revival in 2002, when ASICS relaunched it as a lifestyle fashion brand.
The modern resurgence of Onitsuka Tiger has been driven by several factors:
- The rise of athleisure and vintage sportswear as fashion statements
- Celebrity adoption, particularly in Asia with Korean and Japanese celebrities
- Their perfect positioning at the intersection of authentic heritage and contemporary style
- Successful collaborations with fashion designers and brands
- The Mexico 66 model becoming a cult classic, especially after being featured in Kill Bill (Uma Thurman’s yellow sneakers)
