On a recent day, customers lined up in front of a store in Tokyo's posh Ginza district before it opened, touted as a must-visit site for tourists. 

A woman visiting from Vancouver, Canada, said she had heard about the flagship store of sports brand Onitsuka Tiger through TikTok and other social media platforms.

The tourist initially coveted the iconic yellow shoes from Quentin Tarantino's 2003 blockbuster movie "Kill Bill: Volume 1," but she also grew interested in the silver version while looking for variations.

She said she was excited about finding more favorites inside the store on this day in early September.

With another roadside shop equipped with a cafe located nearby, Ginza serves as a base for Onitsuka Tiger to offer not only shopping opportunities but also an immersive experience of its worldview.

Sporting goods manufacturer Asics Corp.'s luxury brand has bounced back stronger than ever after it withdrew from the sneaker market in the late 1970s.

The popularity resurgence after its relaunch in 2002 is credited to its overseas strategy focusing on high quality sneakers made in Japan.

TERMINATED IN 1977

Onitsuka Tiger was originally launched in 1950 when Kihachiro Onitsuka, who had founded Onitsuka Shokai (the predecessor of Asics) in the previous year, developed a basketball shoe.

The company went on to produce a marathon shoe modeled after Japanese traditional "tabi" split-toed socks before introducing a characteristic sneaker with its iconic stripes in 1966.

But the brand was discontinued once in 1977 when Onitsuka Shokai merged with two sporting goods companies to form Asics, a general sporting goods maker.

The company launched a new brand called Asics Tiger while effectively suspending sales of Onitsuka Tiger shoes.

However, in 2002, after the 1990s boom of high-tech sneakers was over, Asics revived Onitsuka Tiger's iconic models.

With its footwear presented at the Pitti Uomo menswear fair and featured in "Kill Bill," the brand continued to garner attention.

It shows how Onitsuka Tiger acutely grasped the ambience of the time when retro and thin-sole sneakers were sought after.

After the revival, its popularity expanded primarily in Europe.

The brand then launched a premium series for which it places particular importance on Japanese dyeing and stitching techniques.

Since 2011, Onitsuka Tiger has been operated as a luxury brand under an in-house company system independent from Asics.

It made a giant step forward to transition from a sports brand to a fashion brand when it broke away from a wholesale-focused sales method.

It had distributed at least 90 percent of its merchandise to mass retailers through wholesale channels, but it switched to a direct-to-customer model to control prices and other trading conditions on its own.

While the brand basically sells its products at fixed prices, it maintains a price range that is neither too low for its products nor too expensive for a luxury brand.

At the same time, Asics opened Onitsuka Tiger shops in Thailand and other major Asian cities before setting up flagship stores in Italy and other European countries since 2020.

The company has been seeking to enhance the value of Onitsuka Tiger as a brand of Japanese origin, with employees temporarily transferred on loan to display merchandise and serve customers in a meticulous manner.

Such strategies have succeeded, and about 70 percent of its sales total comes from overseas stores in recent years.

In July, Onitsuka Tiger opened a global flagship store on the Champs-Elysees, one of the most popular tourist spots in Paris, its third after those in Tokyo's Omotesando and London.

Housed inside a historical building, particularly eye-catching is the interior of the two-story store that features Onitsuka Tiger's iconic yellow.

The brand is also considering opening more flagship stores in Copenhagen and Madrid.

It has been collaborating with Italian designer Andrea Pompilio since 2013, improving its creative capacity to present total fashion styles.

The brand has been seeking to achieve functional beauty by combining Japanese culture interpreted through foreign perspectives and traditional Japanese craftsmanship.

It has been showing its collections at Milan Fashion Week since 2021.

The shoemaker took over a long-established department store in central Milan during the event in February 2024, decorating the interior and exterior of the building with yellow to celebrate its 75th anniversary.

HURDLES IN U.S. MARKET

Onitsuka Tiger posted sales of 9.1 billion yen ($61.5 million) in 2011.

The figure continued to grow except during the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching 95.4 billion yen in 2024.

The brand expects record sales of 120 billion yen in 2025.

Supported by a strong customer base in Japan, the company saw its domestic sales grow by 70 percent year-on-year in 2024.

Onitsuka Tiger announced this summer that it will re-enter the U.S. market after withdrawing in 2023.

It aims to make full-scale inroads in or around 2027, thanks to brisk sales in Europe and elsewhere.

In January 2026, Asics will turn Sanin Asics Industry Corp., a shoe production facility in Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture, into a dedicated production base for Onitsuka Tiger, called Onitsuka Innovative Factory Corp.

The company said it will strengthen its production system while maintaining planning and development functions.

"The way in which the brand changed course to target overseas markets worked in its favor, as seen in advertising visuals comparable to luxury brands. It is also astute in opening stores in prime locations of major cities," Masayuki Ozawa, a journalist and sneaker expert, said of Asics. 

As for its foray into the U.S. market, Ozawa pointed out that the vast country has different cultures on the East and West coasts, adding: "The running market has the upper hand and functionality is given more importance than fashionability. I think there is a high hurdle to overcome."

It remains to be seen how the brand will promote its distinct aesthetics while maintaining the foundation of the brand as a sporting goods manufacturer.

"We will turn it into a top brand that offers a luxury fashion style with sports functionality," Ryoji Shoda, head of Onitsuka Tiger Co., who has led the brand since 2011, once said.