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However, Onitsuka Tiger decided that they weren’t happy with the name and once again made a change, this time looking to opt for the name ‘Aztec’, taking its inspiration from ancient Mexican history during the Aztec era. Despite the sneaker receiving its third name in two years, Onitsuka ran into further troubles, this time from one of their competitors, adidas. For one of the company's first shoe models, Onitsuka found inspiration in a dish of octopus salad. He compared the shoe's grip to the suction power of an octopus tentacle. With this strength, the shoe allowed athletes to elevate their game. It was named "Onitsuka Tiger".
Vissel Kobe is a Japanese professional football club who won a championship in the 2019 season. Their home, away, third and goalkeeper shirts are all being designed and made by ASICS. 5. Novac Djokovic, 2019. During this time period, ASICS created innovative products used by professional athletes around the world. ASICS champions in the 2000’s 1. Naoko Takahashi, 2000.
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Acting almost as a final jab at adidas, the Cortez name was derived from the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes who led an expedition which brought the fall of the Aztec Empire in the 1500s. Who is Kihachiro Onitsuka? Onitsuka was a military veteran who eventually decided to venture into the shoe business. He began making footwear for top athletes under the business name "Onitsuka Co." This company started small with just a handful of employees and initially sought to produce basketball shoes.
At the time, adidas had released a running spike sneaker called the ‘Azteca Gold’ which featured a very similar shape to the Onitsuka spikes as well as similar overlays on the heel and used a similar name. With this being the case, Bowerman was tasked with finding a new name for the sneaker, this time choosing the name ‘Cortez’. During the ‘80s, the Nike Cortez continued to be a huge success in pop culture, particularly finding its footing within the music industry. In the mid-'70s - early ‘80s Sir Elton John worked closely with Nike to create his own Cortez sneaker which featured the midsole design of the 1979 Nike Roadrunner. ASICS grew from a two-person team to one of the world’s most influential sports brands. ASICS was built on the idea of “Anima sana in corpore sano,” a Latin phrase which translates to "a sound mind in a sound body". This philosophy became a legacy that remains an essential part of the brand to this day. Few shoes have created such a seismic shift in the sneaker business. A court later decreed that both Onitsuka and Nike could sell the Cortez model. Nike retained the shoe’s original name, while Tiger dubbed their version the ‘Corsair’. Countless colourways and iterations of the Cortez have been released over the years, including a magnitude of colourways and materials as well as other combinations similar to Sir Elton John’s mashup with Fragment creating the Roshe Cortez in 2015 which combined the Cortez and now infamous Roshe Run and even a high top chukka variant of the Cortez releasing the same year.Before Nike, came Blue Ribbon Sports. Founded by Phil Knight and the Olympic running coach Bill Bowerman, Blue Ribbon Sports was working alongside Onitsuka Tiger to distribute their sneakers within the US from Japan (a story best told within Phil Knight’s book ‘Shoe Dog’). After the duo had worked with Onitsuka Tiger (who also owns ASICS) for two years, Bowerman was allowed to utilise his designs and release a marathon-running sneaker of his own in conjunction with the Japanese brand.
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