The performance running market is hot, and Asics is heating up at just the right time.
In fiscal 2023, the Japan-based athletic brand reported record sales and profits, including a net sales increase of 17.7 percent to 570.4 billion yen, and gross profits up 23.3 percent to 296.9 yen. Also, net income was 35.2 billion yen, up 77.4 percent from the prior year.
In North America, sales increased 8.8 percent to 114.6 billion yen in 2023, driven by performance running and core performance sports sales.
With its momentum in the marketplace, Asics has a series of ambitious goals. One of them is to claim the No. 1 spot in run.
This could prove to be a daunting task as Asics’ competition has strengthened in recent years. Brooks, for instance, became a billion-dollar brand in 2021, and reported global revenues of $1.2 billion in 2023. And both Hoka and On gained favor with runners of all levels and continue to gain valuable share of the market.
Asics president and chief operating officer Mitsuyuki Tominaga acknowledged the strength of its competition as well as the brand’s shortcomings.
“As far as running, we had some difficulty when the technology was changing a couple years ago, and we were a little bit behind,” Tominaga told FN. “We constructed a team, worked with athletes, put workers on full production so we would have the most innovative shoes in the market. So I think we’re coming back, especially in this running market.”
These changes have come at a time when Asics has strengthened its leadership structure.
Tominaga, who formerly served as the brand’s managing executive officer, chief data officer and chief information officer, was named president and chief operating officer in September 2023. He assumed the role on Jan. 1.
Koichiro Kodama was named president and chief executive officer of North America in October 2023. Prior to assuming the role, he was the company’s managing executive officer and was based out of its Japan headquarters. He also previously served as CEO of North America from 2019 to 2020.
“We asked Kodama-san, a very senior leader, to move from Japan to United States so we have full focus from a headquarters perspective. And we are expecting big turnout for Kodama,” Tominaga said.
With a new leadership structure, Asics is doubling-down on its investment into run specialty, a retail channel Tominaga said is critical to its success in run.
“Our DTC is very important, but DTC customers come to Asics direct. The customer who compares our products to our competitors, they go to the run speciality. Those customers will be our loyal consumers in the future,” Tominaga said. “To understand Asics and our products, we need run specialty partners to expand in the U.S. market.”
This focus on run specialty, Tominaga explained, is how Asics can differentiate from its competitors. This includes more attention from the brand’s personnel, as well as a greater investment in marketing and other dedicated resources. It also includes event collaboration and partnership.
For instance, Tominaga said things such as demo runs of new shoes at its run specialty accounts have been a great way to support, and the brand is a sponsor of several races, including the Los Angeles Marathon, the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile and 5K in Washington, D.C., and Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn. And although it is not a sponsor of the Boston Marathon, Tominaga said it works closely with Marathon Sports on activations around the event.
What’s more, Tominaga said Kodama will often visit Asics’ run specialty accounts to give them personal attention.
Scott Dvorak, owner of Charlotte Running Co. in North and South Carolina, has already noticed changes for the better with Asics’ new leadership structure.
“They’ve got a good crew running their U.S. operations now, they understand the business, they’re wary of making the same mistakes they’ve made in the past,” Dvorak said. “Ease of doing business, that’s huge. That’s what has kept Brooks at the top for so long.”
Tominaga also confirmed Asics will work to improve in its direct-to-consumer (DTC) experience, as well as its digital ecosystem.
“My background is digital, and we’d like to focus more on the DTC business — our loyalty program, the running ecosystem with application registration and additional services that we could provide on top of our products,” said Tominaga, who was named managing executive officer, chief data officer and chief information officer of Asics Digital in 2021. “We’re not going to go extreme, 60 percent wholesale and 40 percent DTC, and the service we provide to consumers is something that we especially would like to focus on.”
This ecosystem includes the GPS fitness tracking app RunKeeper, which it acquired in 2016, as well as its OneAsics royalty program and four race registration companies that it has purchased in recent years. The goal looking ahead, according to Asics, is to expand the services across its running ecosystem.
Asics’ product, too, has improved dramatically. In November 2023, Dvorak praised its improvements in product, and told FN that its Gel-Nimbus 25, a soft cushioned neutral running shoe designed with a smoother running experience in mind, is one of the best shoes he has seen “in the last 10 to 15 years.”
Given the reception of the Gel-Nimbus 25, Asics followed with Gel-Nimbus 26 at the end of 2023, a shoe the brand said was designed with “a series of careful improvements” to its predecessor. The shoe is available now and retails for $160.
Thanks to a new investment, that product should continue to improve looking ahead. Next month, the brand will debut the Asics Creation Center, something the brand described as a “global product development company” that will be based in Boston and focus on product creation and innovation.
“Our headquarters is in Japan, and we have solid production and craftsmanship capability in Japan. But at the same time, we need to make sure with our biggest markets — such as the United States and Europe — that the trends and so forth are all covered,” Tominaga said. “We will combine people with design research capability here so we can look at not just Japan, but at Europe and the United States, so we’ll have a holistic view on our products.”
The Asics Creation Center will debut within its Boston headquarters on May 1, and it will house 30 employees initially, most of which will be from its existing global workforce. Over the next year, Asics said it plans to open new positions in the center and will look to the ecosystem of talent in Boston to fill them.
“There is great history in the industry of footwear and apparel in Boston and there is still a lot of opportunity here for us. And there are a lot of things we can do together with the universities and college and startups in Boston. We can have mutual development and [tackle] mutual challenges, new things, materialization and sustainability,” Kodama said.
Aside from run, Asics is also making tennis a priority, and is targeting the No. 1 spot in that category.
“Our biggest revenue comes from the running side, but we want to build a very strong No. 2, and that we have decided to do with T-Project, which is tennis,” Tominaga said.
Tominaga said its position in the sport is aided by the top players it works with, including Novak Djokovic, who is ranked No. 1 in the world. What’s more, the exec believes the rise of pickleball will help improve the brand’s position in the market.
“Pickleball is on trend in the United States and also in Europe, it is very big. It’s very similar to tennis, and we are investing in technology to develop shoes for this market as well,” Tominaga said. “But at the same time, areas like China, there’s a big population growth with tennis. We will be doing this at a global level.”
About the Author
Peter Verry is the Senior News and Features Editor for Athletic and Outdoor at Footwear News. He oversees coverage of the two fast-paced and ultracompetitive markets, which includes conducting in-depth interviews with industry leaders and writing stories on sneakers and outdoor shoes. He is a lifelong sneaker addict (and shares his newest purchases via @peterverry on Instagram) and spends most of his free time on a trail. He holds an M.A. in journalism from Hofstra University and can be reached at peter.verry@footwearnews.com.
