ASICS Ltd. began as Panmure Co., Ltd on September 1, 1949[6]. Its founder, Kihachiro Onitsuka, began manufacturing basketball shoes in his home town of Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Soon after the range of sports activities widened to a variety of Olympic styles used throughout the '50s, '60s and '70s by athletes worldwide. Onitsuka became particularly renowned for the Mexico 66[7] design, in which the distinctive crossed stripes, now synonymous with the company brand, were featured for the first time. In 1977, Onitsuka Tiger merged with GTO and JELENK to form ASICS Corporation. Despite the name change, a vintage range of ASICS shoes are still produced and sold internationally under the Onitsuka Tiger label.

The name of the company, "ASICS," is an acronym of the Latin phrase anima sana in corpore sano, which translates to "a sound spirit in a sound body"[8], which derives from the aphorism mens sana in corpore sano. Since 2007 there has been a larger emphasis placed on this acronym, and its translation has been modified for advertising purposes to "a sound mind in a sound body.".
A pair of ASICS wrestling shoes, model Split Second V
A pair of ASICS running shoes, model GEL-Kinsei

In its 2006 fiscal year, ASICS generated 171 billion yen in net sales and 13 billion yen in net income. Sixty-six percent of the company's income comes from the sale of sports shoes, 24 percent from sportswear, and 10 percent from sports equipment. Forty-nine percent of the company's sales are in Japan, 28 percent in North America, and 19 percent in Europe.