For several years running now, the Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 has been central to trends in a way few likely would have predicted.
The nearly 60-year-old running shoe has been embraced by “it” girls and has provided a boon for its parent company, Asics, along with other models from Asics proper including the Gel-Kayano 14 and Leg-1130. The first six months of 2024 have seen Onitsuka Tiger net sales increase by 61 percent, coming off of a 40.2 percent jump in 2023.
Simple construction and a thin, flat sole betray just how old the Mexico 66 is — if the name itself weren’t enough of a hint. The sneaker is a bonafide classic, and below Footwear News takes you through the history of the model, from its emergence in a time period when Onitsuka Tiger was working closely with the pre-Nike company Blue Ribbon Sports to its pop culture legacy for multiple generations.
Kihachiro Onitsuka founded his namesake brand in 1949, just four years after the end of World War II. Basketball had begun to take hold in Japan during the American occupation, and Onitsuka sought to get in early by making shoes for the support. His first attempts flopped, but after two years a salad of pickled cucumber and octopus would lead to a breakthrough when Onitsuka noticed a tentacle stuck on his bowl.
Onitsuka Tiger’s unnamed basketball sneakers featured suction cups on the outsole in a wacky but ultimately useful appeal to gripping the court better. The brand then expanded into running in 1953 by working with Japanese marathoner Toru Terasawa. Its first offering were Tabi toe runners, and Onitsuka Tiger scored a win by convincing Ethiopian athlete Abebe Bikila to give up his bare-footed approach and wear its shoes for his two consecutive gold medals in the Olympic marathon in 1960 and 1964.
Nike’s origins lie in business with Onitsuka Tiger, as the American company began as Blue Ribbon Sports, a distributor for the Japanese shoes in North America. Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman invested $500 a piece to form the company and received their first shipment of Onitsuka Tigers in 1963.
Bowerman would even design a shoe for Onitsuka Tiger in 1967 originally known as the TG-24, for which Blue Ribbon Sports was the exclusive North American distributor in the lead-up to the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico. As a famous tinkerer, the Oregon Ducks running coach paired Onitsuka Tiger’s spongy Spring Up midsole with the Limber Up outsole while swapping a leather upper for a woven nylon resin that was stronger, lighter, more moisture resistant and capable of retaining its shape without stretching.
The TG-24 became the TG-Mexico and was renamed again as the TG-Mexico. Yet another name change rechristened it as the Aztec, which drew a lawsuit from Adidas because the Germans were planning their own Azteca Gold sneaker. Finally, the brand landed on Cortez — and you’ll now realize that Nike made the sneaker more famous than Onitsuka Tiger ever did.
Onitsuka wouldn’t go down without a fight, though, as it sued the new company Nike for beginning to sell the design for itself in 1972. A judge ruled that both companies could continue to sell the sneaker, but only Nike could use the name Cortez and Asics would have to run with its fifth and final alias, Corsair.
A year before the saga of the Cortez began, Onitsuka Tiger introduced the Mexico 66 as another shoe targeting the ’68 Summer Games. It too began with another name, Limber Up. The Japanese company debuted the shoe during the Olympic pre-trials in 1966, and it was one of the first to feature the striping motif that’s now the signature brand mark of both Onitsuka Tiger and Asics.
Despite its growth and recognition within running, Onitsuka Tiger still didn’t have the flagship shoe that would enable it to compete with the giants Adidas and Puma. The Japanese national team wore the Mexico 66 for the ’68 Olympics, but the biggest boost for the silhouette would come from a martial artist and actor out of Hong Kong.
There’s some dispute over what shoe exactly Bruce Lee wore in the 1978 film “Game of Death” — some say it was the Mexico 66 while others say it was actually the Tai Chi — but the effect remained the same, as it made the former model a pop cultural icon. In 2001, “Kill Bill: Volume 1” strengthened the effect by featuring Uma Thurman in its climatic battle wearing yellow and black Onitsuka Tigers and a matching tracksuit both paying homage to Lee’s “Game of Death” jumpsuit. Once again, there have been disputes over which shoe was actually worn, but once again it was the Mexico 66 that benefited.
Today’s resurgence for the Mexico 66 began in earnest in 2022, when it was already being touted as an alternative to the Adidas Samba and was soon to appear on the feet of celebrities including Bella and Gigi Hadid, as well as Kaia Gerber.
Flat, low-profile sneakers — often with a long history — have become a prevalent and accessible trend because of the typically low prices of models including the Mexico 66, Adidas’ Samba and Gazelle, Puma’s Mostro, and Nike’s Field General and Killshot 2. Miu Miu also dropped one of the hottest collaborations of 2024 with its deconstructed New Balance 530.
A lack of frills also makes the Mexico 66 extremely versatile in both its audiences and the types of outfits it can be incorporated with.
In short, Onitsuka Tiger became Asics.
Onitsuka Tiger consolidated with the fishing and sporting goods company GTO, as well as athletic uniform maker Jelenk, to form Asics in 1977. The new company’s name is an acronym for the Latin expression, “Anima Sana In Corpore Sano,” which translates to “a sound mind in a sound body.” For a time, business in America was even conducted under the name Asics Tiger Corporation to connect the two brands.
While Asics uses the striping that originated with the Mexico 66, Onitsuka Tiger sneakers are still produced under the elder brand name. Think of the relationship a bit like Jordan Brand and Nike, but rather if Jordan Brand came first and eventually became a branch of Nike.
Ian Servantes is a Senior News Editor for Footwear News specializing in sneaker coverage. He’s previously reported on streetwear and sneakers at Input and Highsnobiety after beginning his career on the pop culture beat. He subscribes to the idea that “ball is life” and doesn’t fuss over his kicks getting dirty.
