Asics will spin off its Onitsuka Tiger sneaker brand into a fully owned subsidiary called OT Group starting Jan. 1, 2027 [2].
The move allows the fashion-forward brand to operate with greater autonomy from the parent company's performance-driven athletic focus. By separating the business units, Asics aims to react more quickly to market trends and capitalize on surging inbound tourism demand in Japan.
Asics announced the restructuring on June 10 [2]. The new company, OT Group, will be headquartered in Tokyo [1]. This strategic shift is designed to strengthen the brand's identity and accelerate its footprint in international markets.
As part of this expansion, the company plans to open a global flagship store in Shinjuku in July 2026 [1, 4]. Further large-scale flagship stores are planned for Shanghai, Milan, and Los Angeles [1]. These retail hubs are intended to serve as anchors for the brand's global growth strategy.
Asics Chairman Yasuto Hirota said the goal is for each brand to grow independently while still leveraging the collective strengths of the overall group.
"Each brand will grow independently while also making use of the strengths of the group. This is the important thinking behind this spin-off," Hirota said [3].
Financially, the company has set a medium-to-long-term sales target of 200 billion yen [1]. To support this production growth, Asics is also renaming its production base in Sakaiminato to the Onitsuka Innovative Factory [5].
The transition to a subsidiary model is expected to streamline the approval process for new product lines and marketing campaigns. This agility is critical as the brand competes in the luxury and lifestyle sneaker segments against global competitors.
“Asics will spin off its Onitsuka Tiger sneaker brand into a fully owned subsidiary called OT Group.”
This corporate restructuring signals a shift in Asics' strategy to treat Onitsuka Tiger as a lifestyle luxury brand rather than just a sportswear line. By creating OT Group, Asics can isolate the brand's high-fashion operational needs from its core athletic engineering, allowing for faster pivots in the volatile global sneaker market and a more aggressive push into high-traffic luxury districts in Asia and the U.S.
