ASICS Corporation

Business Description

Performance Running, roughly 45% of revenue, sells technical shoes to serious runners on the strength of the cushioning and stability engineering developed at the company's own research institute in Kobe — a credibility business, in which podium results and the recommendation of specialist running shops count for more than advertising spend. Onitsuka Tiger, about 17%, is a different company in everything but the factory: the heritage brand revived as a premium fashion label, sold largely through its own stores at full price, with particularly strong demand in China and from inbound visitors to Japan, and at markedly higher margins than running shoes. SportStyle adds another 17%, Core Performance Sports about 11%, and apparel and equipment the remaining 5%.

The recovery behind those numbers is a genuine turnaround. ASICS lost ground badly through the 2010s, to larger rivals and to the shift in taste toward lifestyle sneakers, and came back on a global running boom, a decision to compete on premium product instead of discounting, and a deliberate move to sell direct — its own stores and e-commerce — rather than through wholesalers, which is the main margin lever. Earnings therefore turn on running participation worldwide, the strength of Onitsuka Tiger and Chinese demand, the direct-to-consumer mix and the exchange rate: with most sales abroad and the accounts in yen, currency moves reported results substantially. Founded in Kobe in 1943 by Kihachiro Onitsuka to make basketball shoes, the company takes its name from the Latin anima sana in corpore sano and reports on a December fiscal year.

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