When Asics wanted to mine the movement insights of sponsored Swiss tennis star Belinda Bencic, the Japanese-based company didn’t have to find a time for her to travel to Kobe, Japan, and visit the company’s headquarters and main Institute of Sport Science. Instead, Bencic traveled a short distance to France, visiting Asics’ newly opened ISS Europe, complete with a focus on tennis.
In a new partnership with HumanFab, Asics will use the company’s technology—a tennis court complete with force plates and data mining capabilities befitting one of the sport’s largest footwear creators—to help continue Asics’ growth in tennis, the brand’s second-largest focus.
“Tennis is important,” Mitsuyuki Tominaga, Asics president and CEO, tells me. “It is growing.” By partnering with HumanFab, Tominaga says to expect a Kaizen-type expression in future product, with incremental improvements with each new shoe, adding to future generations of Asics tennis footwear.
Yuhi Tanigaki, Asics global product manager of tennis footwear, tells me he’s excited to not only have accessibility to top-flight Asics athletes but also the actionable data he gets from ISS Europe. “The data and results we can get is well-written and detailed,” he says about working with HumanFab, adding that while Asics has plenty of data about how footwear responds, they can now merge that with a new perspective that encompasses footwear, movement and the body’s reaction, all scientifically categorized. “It is nice to get that scientific background. I am very much looking forward to the partnership.” Tominaga noted that Asics hopes to better see how the footwear works in tandem with the entire body, adding a component of injury prevention into the mix.
The enhanced testing also assists as Asics builds its tennis footwear catalog and helps consumers understand that footwear is equipment for your feet, like how players already buy rackets. Gary Raucher, Asics global head of marketing, says the brand wants to apply lessons learned in its running category (which makes up 45% of the brand’s footwear sales) to tennis, encouraging players to understand the difference between a stability-focused shoe for those who moves across the baseline and a speed-focused shoe, one that helps players move to and from the net. For Asics, that’s clearly defined in the Gel-Resolution and Solution Speed models, respectively.
Runners already buy shoes based on movement needs. Asics wants tennis to be the same. “Playing style is the easiest way to get consumers in the right shoe,” he says.
“I think we are going to make it much more visible,” Raucher says about the opportunity to educate consumers. “A shoe is just as important an equipment purchase as a racket. Because consumers are used to buying rackets based on playing styles, it won’t be too difficult [to understand the perspective.].”
Tanigaki appreciates the distinction, allowing his team to really focus each shoe design—and potential new shoes—on specific uses. “It is so hard to be told to make a good shoe,” he says. “We have a lot of technologies, new materials, so it is hard. It is really nice to have a very clear pillar, a way of thinking and capturing the way players move.”
While the Gel-Resolution, now in its 10th iteration, focuses on stability with its Dynawall construction and FF Blast cushioning in the midsole to create a stable base and the Solution Speed FF 4 offers a responsive cushioning with construction focused on forward acceleration, there’s always room to build off each. Asics will continue to use each model as the pinnacle offering in each playing type silo, with additional options in differing price points falling below, keeping the brand accessible to more athletes.
As tennis marks a key growth point for Asics—following running and tennis, Tominaga says additional court sports and lifestyle are the next major points of emphasis for the company—Asics expects to continue merging tennis with the brand’s take on lifestyle, dubbed Sportstyle. Asics recently released a lifestyle-focused remake of the Gel-Resolution 5and Tominaga says to expect Asics’ tennis history to continue inspiring new waves of lifestyle product.
Asics tennis now has multiple pillars, from the ISS Europe-led technical connections to history-inspired lifestyle, just like how Asics tennis footwear pillars come clearly defined by playing styles.
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