The story of Onitsuka Tiger is deeply intertwined with both sports history and modern streetwear culture. Let me break down this fascinating journey from post-war Japan to global fashion icon.

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)

You might also like: