Asics has opened its first university-based research lab, on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, as its North American business posts record sales. The research that will be carried out there is expected to begin informing products by 2028.
The Ann Arbor lab is the working space for the Asics Michigan Sport Innovation Center, a multi-year collaboration agreed in December 2025, to which the Japanese company has committed a $25 million research budget (€21m). Asics had already established its first US research entity, Asics Institute of Sport Science America (ISS America), in December 2025; the new lab gives that wider network a university base connected to the company’s R&D headquarters in Kobe.
The partner model varies by region. In Europe, Asics Institute of Sport Science Europe (ISS Europe), launched in June, works with HumanFab, an independent sport research lab based in Aix-en-Provence, France, whose instrumented indoor court is used to study tennis biomechanics. Ann Arbor adds the academic side, with university faculty leading the research.
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From research questions to product decisions
Six faculty-led projects will explore problems ranging from estimating runners’ movement and physical loading from video to designing footwear for loose or uneven terrain. Other teams will investigate kirigami-inspired shoe structures, knitted fabrics with sensing technology, wearable systems that store and return energy, and how runners’ preferences relate to footwear characteristics.
The North American market has become more and more important for Asics, which has more than doubled its sales there since 2020. In 2025, Asics North America reported ¥141.1 billion (€759m) in sales, up 5.8 percent from 2024. Operating profit rose 42.1 percent to ¥16 billion (€86m), giving the region an 11.3 percent operating margin.
Asics now runs research bases in Japan, the US and Europe, each built around a different type of partner.
