A myth of province: the story of Asics From Wembley to Empoli's Castellani and Livorno's Picchi
The more than 72 years of Asics history tell that before becoming a reference point in streetwear and fashion, the brand was above all a sports brand. Born in Japan as a basketball shoe company from Kihachiro Onitsuka, over the years Asics has added materials for all other sports to its production, from running to swimming, from volleyball to rugby. But football, which is the most practiced sport in the world, Asics discovered later, in the late 1980s. Although it may seem belated to enter the balloon for a company founded in 1949, in reality the Japanese brand has been able to make its mark. Especially in Italy, where for more than a decade, the brand has built a very strong bond with some medium-small companies.
For many Italian fans, in fact, Asics is identifiable above all as a brand of the province. A definition that doesn't define a negative or desparging idea. Asics managed to create a perfect identity for teams with a certain budget and organization with limited resources and a low interest rate, whose products had to be comfortable, not necessarily with an impressive aesthetics. Although in reality this has not always been the case, and indeed, Asics' entry into Italian football begins from a very high starting point.
Lecce, Atalanta and Livorno, which have had it for more than a decade, are the emblem of Asics' comfort in Italian football: simple products, a pattern tending to solid color, few experiments, good economic agreements. In practice, Asics was a certainty, but slowly, it suffered a peak. Because if in the Nineties it was a brand in total rise - arrived at the Champions Final with Sampdoria and signs on the jerseys of a top club like AS Roma and, then, in the 2000s, signs on half the right of the Serie A classify - now his appearances in football are very rare. Apart from Vissel Kobe, a team from the city where the brand was founded and where the testimonial Iniesta plays, there is no club in the first categories of the world to dress Asics. In fact, you see much more about the feet of the players than about their bodies.
In fact, more than jerseys, Asics has built its icon in football also thanks to the boots. In addition to the mythical Testimonial of Baresi, the Tigers have become unforgettable (to which, through GEL technology, the brand has created one of its most famous sneaker models), tigreor, menace and lethal. Comfortable and cheap, Asics boots have been one of the most national-popular sports products for dressing footballers' feet.
