verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . january 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message for the jazz drummer see tiger onitsuka . onitsuka tiger industry footwear founded 1949 founder kihachiro onitsuka headquarters japan parent asics website http www.onitsukatiger.com en us onitsuka tiger is one of the oldest shoe companies in japan tracing its history back to the formation of onitsuka co ltd in 1949 when the 32 year old former military officer kihachiro onitsuka started his company with the hopes of raising postwar youth self esteem through athletics . history edit onitsuka tiger s first product was a basketball shoe resembling a straw sandal in many ways . the design was discarded by many and onitsuka returned to the design stage to better acclimate his shoes for the way in which basketball players started and stopped on the floor . by adding cups and small spaces in the soles of his basketball shoes onitsuka made a more effective shoe in 1952 which soon became popular throughout japan . in 1955 the company increased its business to 500 sports shops across japan . onitsuka tiger worked with marathon runner toru terasawa in 1953 to develop a running shoe that would keep long distance runners from developing blisters . legendary ethiopian runner abebe bikila started wearing onitsuka tiger shoes in 1957 the first time in his running career he had ever worn shoes convinced by onitsuka that they would be superior to his barefoot style . in the late 1950s university of oregon middle distance runner philip knight was coached by bill bowerman one of the top coaches in the us . bowerman was also known for experimenting with the design of running shoes to make them lighter and more shock absorbent . after attending oregon knight continued his studies at stanford university where he wrote his mba thesis on the marketing of athletic shoes . after receiving his degree knight travelled to japan where he contacted onitsuka tiger co. ltd and convinced the company that their product had a market in the us . in 1963 knight received his first shipment of tiger shoes and later he and bowerman invested 500 each to form blue ribbon sports later known as nike inc. . the shoes were also worn in 1958 by short distance runner oliver skilton when he won bronze in the continental european games . in 1964 onitsuka listed the company on the kobe stock exchange and later on the exchanges of osaka and tokyo . the asics stripe was first introduced in 1966 during the pre olympic trials for the 1968 olympic games in mexico . limber was the first model to feature asics stripes on the side of the upper section . these lines were the famous design icon on another onitsuka tiger shoe the limber leather now called mexico 66 . in 1968 blue ribbon sports started importing limber up to the american market . in 1968 their running shoes were the tg 4 marathons which were all nylon uppers and flat rubber soles . they retailed for about 6.00 . their training shoe had an all leather white upper and thickly padded soles and was named the cortez . they also had an all around exercise shoe called the bangkok and racing spikes . blue ribbon sports had their first store on the east coast in wellesley hills massachusetts which was very near the boston marathon route . jeff johnson was the manager and he would attend many aau meets as well as high school cross country races where he would be commonly seen selling his onitsuka brand shoes from the trunk of his red austin healy 3000 sports car . in the 1970s onitsuka tiger introduced the fabre standing for the fastbreak move in basketball . the japanese team wore the fabre at the 1972 olympics in munich where they finished 14th . in 1976 finnish runner lasse viren won both the 5 000 and 10 000 meters at the montreal olympic games while wearing onitsuka tigers after having worn adidas while winning those events in the 1972 munich olympics . in 1972 gto jelenk and onitsuka combined their financial and athletic positions to build a regional sales office near hokkaido for the sapporo winter olympics that would lead to the eventual 1977 merger of all three companies known as asics . today the company is still known as asics and provides shoes to retailers around the globe . the asics acronym stands for anima sana in corpore sano or a healthy soul in a healthy body . an adaptation of the ancient aphorism in juvenal and elsewhere mens sana in corpore sano . the company has recently placed significant emphasis on the translation of the acronym . shoe designs edit since onitsuka tiger was incorporated in 1949 shoes have been created for football running martial arts basketball cheerleading volleyball cross training track and field wrestling golf cricket fencing and tennis . the most famous brand of onitsuka tiger shoes is the striped mexico 66 line . citation needed asics still sells vintage style onitsuka tiger shoes including the mexico 66 worldwide . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to onitsuka tiger . onitsuka tiger website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title onitsuka tiger & oldid 732399057 categories companies established in 1949asicshidden categories articles needing additional references from january 2014all articles needing additional referencesarticles with a promotional tone from january 2014all articles with a promotional toneall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from december 2011commons category with page title same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged 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