The new facility deepens the link between the brand’s sports science institute and its product development pipeline – returning elite craftsmanship to the Kobe birthplace of ASICS. A ‘Made in Japan’ consumer line remains a future possibility.
ASICS has announced plans for a purpose-built research and manufacturing facility in Kobe, Japan, dedicated to bespoke footwear for elite athletes and faster product development. The ASICS Technical Lab (ATL), scheduled to begin operations in December 2027, will occupy 2,420 square metres in the Minatojima-Minamimachi district – the city where the brand was founded in 1949.
The facility is structured around three functions: producing precisely crafted footwear tailored to individual elite athletes, running rapid prototyping cycles to improve quality and accelerate development across the brand’s broader product range, and building the next generation of ASICS engineers through hands-on training.
The strategic logic is not new: insights developed for elite athletes feed back into products for the wider market. The lab will sit adjacent to the ASICS Institute of Sport Science (ISS) to apply research in biomechanics, physiology and athlete testing directly at the production stage.
ATL will be equipped with dedicated measurement spaces and athlete collaboration areas, enabling highly individual feedback on fit, feel and performance nuances to be captured and acted upon in manufacturing – a process the company says will, in turn, inform product development more broadly.
At launch, ATL will focus on the footwear categories where precision customisation matters most: running shoes, track and field spikes and tennis shoes. Over time, ASICS has indicated the facility could also support a consumer-facing “Made in Japan” product line, extending premium craftsmanship to a broader audience. The company also intends to make ATL accessible to the public, as a visible expression of its manufacturing philosophy and Kobe origins.
