ASICS might be in serious trouble, lost $180 Million in 2018

Uh, no, I mean Adidas. They own the Reebok brand and have for over a decade.

My newer Sorties seem a bit more narrow than the older pairs seem. But I used to have troubles getting a corn on my right little toe. I can feel it rubbing in some shoes. That doesn't happen with any of the Sorties even the newer ones. I think the Lyte Racer is fairly broad. I could go upstairs and check but then I probably would go to bed. Maybe I'll check on that in the morning. One of the things I generally liked about most Aspics shoes was that the toe box seemed roomy.

Yes, I agree, now thinking about it, the Asics sortie magic toe box does seem roomy on some of them.But I do adjust the shoe strings on some of them too to make it feel more roomy. My big toe seems to pop up on them.

Here is something to ponder. Puma just had a record breaking year. Their sales are going up year on year on year... That includes in running. Now I know they have intermittently committed to running but on the whole they are in and out like the hokey cokey. As far as I can see they currently have no serious running shoes... Goes to show how sales are not necessarily linked to the quality of product.

Been Running Since 90s wrote:

Seriously, Asics has always been sized too small. Since I first bought them in 1994. With Asics you size up 1/2 size by default. Always and forever. It's not new.

Most people care a lot less about that than they do about consistently. As long as the shoe is consistently small year after year it's not a big deal. We always stressed to people to take all shoes sizes with a grain of salt and just use them as a starting point to find one that fits correctly. We all know you can be 10 in one shoe and 11 in another (sometimes even within the same brand). People will eventually get their size dialed in. It's when the sizing of the same shoe changes year to year that you're going to really start to annoy people.

Yes, the Lyte Racer has lots of toe box room.

When does the next allie and brad video drop? wrote:

That's why they signed Allie. Going after a bigger market!

rofl

the plus size market is huge!

Nobody is running in Puma. They sell well to fashion casual shoes market. Asics in US easily expendable. Nobody will miss it except Ryan Bro Hall. He will have to get a real job instead of lifting in the basement of his wife's house.

I don't understand Puma at all. Every 3-4years they commit to running with a new line. A promise to become part of the running market again.... They release good product then dissappear again. In Europe they always retained some presence in the running market. That seems to be gone completely now which makes their sponsorship of many national teams all the more strange.

Poooma wrote:

I don't understand Puma at all. Every 3-4years they commit to running with a new line. A promise to become part of the running market again.... They release good product then dissappear again. In Europe they always retained some presence in the running market. That seems to be gone completely now which makes their sponsorship of many national teams all the more strange.

At least they're consistent. Herb Elliott was their president once, for a vary brief time. He made phone calls to loads and loads of US specialty shops asking the owners if they'd consider selling Puma's stuff. Pretty much all of them said they were willing. You're enough into the sport that you own a shop and you're going to turn Herb Elliott down? Our local guy got one of the calls and was totally on board. Then Elliott was gone and I don't think the shop owner ever got anything from Puma at all.

ASICS have always been great too me... large range of products and shoes for other sports apart from running (in Australia). They make the only football boots that have a 10mm heel drop, which is great as I’m an AFL umpire, so I need boots that are good for running and the hg10mm makes them feel more like running shoes.

As for there running shoes, some are hit and miss, I think the mid range running shoes are better then the real high end ones like the meta run. I run a two shoe rotation and use the adidas Boston 7 along with the ASICS gel cumulus 20 for longer runs and not had an issue yet.

ASICS shoes sell fine in Australia, the only reasons I think they don’t sell as well in America are because they don’t have a tick on the side of them, and lots of Americans are just hobby joggers that for some reason think they need a really soft shoe with heaps of cushioning, not a normal running shoe

Just confirmed that Australians are insufferable, they're like Southern rednecks only they make less sense.

Doesn't everybody wear Hokas now? No wonder all those other companies are going out of business.

Yeah, I’ve had no luck with Nike’s or Adidas. Nike’s and Adidas are just as expensive if not more expensive than ASICS and seem to lean more towards fashion sports wear rather than functional (maybe they have some items that work very well for some people?? Just not for me).

Years back since I started using ASICS I’ve had less injuries and have been maintaining. Which means a lot to me because I don’t own a car and need to b able to walk a lot. I’ve trained for and have run various races (10k, half marathon,..) all in ASICS and have had minimal issues.

For someone who's an 'AFL umpire' and by extension likely to be a competent runner, this is a simplistic response. You've probably gone home from races by the time the 'hobby jogger' crowd finishes, many of whom adorn Kayanos or Nimbus, and the faster ones finishing ahead or just around you are in racing flats, many of them showing Swooshes. Using the phrase 'normal running shoe' pretty much kills your credibility, as there's no such thing.

ASICS 'sell fine' in Australia for many a reason. Their marketing partnerships with national sporting teams and/or sporting bodies is a big part of it, which plays into clueless jocks in franchise chains selling to clueless consumers, based on marketing guff as opposed to individual need. Their decline in the US is likely more attributable to competitor innovation, more choice and runners' thirst for something new, as opposed to running in over-constructed housebricks based on the recommendation of Terry in Admin, who weighs 120kg and says his shoes are "'comfortable as' for walking"

Asia's will make some progress this year, as Brooks is totally ruining their spot in the industry. Their warehouse move is ruining their reputation and understandably so.

Asics make good shoes like the DS trainer and tarther just like Adidas make the Boston or the Adios or Brooks make the Launch or Hyperion or Nike make the Zoom Elite or Streak. This idea that one co. makes shoes that are all garbage or all brilliant is rubbish. Ever ran in a Structure 22... It's an awful shoe if you compare it to a GT 1000... Remember....in '85 Reebok we're top of the pile....it's taken almost 40 years to get back to making good product. It's swings and roundabouts.

That’s exactly right, and the thing is they haven’t even dropped that much. There shoes are on par and serve the same purpose as brooks, saucony, mizuno etc. in fact I would rate their flats better than those three brands, I think the Tartheredge is the best true racing flat going around right now (without superfoam). The reason they have dropped a bit is because of Nike’s marketing arm and the hype around the VF, ZoomX etc. it’s hard to compete with a brand that has so much marketing money and hype even when there shoes aren’t that great. ASICS, brooks, saucony, all have better trainers than Nike. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Nike dominates the US but most people I know in Australia run in ASICS, it is by far the most popular brand in AUS. Some people here wouldn’t have even heard of brooks, or ever thought of running in Nike. ASICS also still dominates Japan, so no probs.

Minimalism may be over as a trend, but it has had a lasting effect. High drop, medial posted shoes are pretty much gone. That was bread and butter for Asics. Consumers are also obsessed with shoe weight now (even though it's not a big deal in training shoes). Heavily cushioned trainers are as light as racing flats from the 90s.

Yes, lifestyle shoes are a much bigger market, but that's never been Asics' market, and it's not necessary either. Brooks has been very successful over the last 20 years by focusing on running specialty. Nobody lines up for the next Brooks "drop." There's no reason that Asics shouldn't be competitive with Brooks among the hobby-jogger crowd.