ASICS was founded in 1949 by Kihachiro Onitsuka in Kobe, Japan, and was initially called the Onitsuka Tiger. The first sports shoe from ASICS was a basketball shoe. However, the special focus on technologically adept running shoes quickly followed. But the brand name didn’t change until 1977. The letters are an acronym of the Latin saying Anima sana in corpore sano – in translation: a sound mind in sound body. The famous trademark Tiger Stripes on the ASICS running shoes give a nod to the original name and heritage.
