Onitsuka Tiger

The Onitsuka Tiger brand was established in 1949 from Kihachiro Onitsuka's desire to foster a positive outlook for Japanese youth after the war. He believed that sport was the key, a belief that kicked off the Onitsuka Tiger legend, starting with the first basketball shoes in Japan (emblazoned with a tiger face design on the arch of the foot). By the 1950's Onitsuka was innovating running shoes with marathon runners Tooru Terasawa and Abebe Bikila. You will no doubt recognise one Onitsuka Tiger icon, in the form of the Mexico 66's - a yellow pair worn by Uma Thurman in Kill Bill vol 1.

Onitsuka Tiger's Sydney store opened in 2005, located at Westfield Bondi Junction. It is part of an exclusive chain of dedicated stores, with the others located in Tokyo, Fukuoka, London, Paris, Seoul and Berlin.

The Onitsuka Tiger web sites have 'cool stuff' to browse through, including work with designer Arne Quinze, artist collective Faile and you can even make Origami Mexico 66 shoes, via template by premier paper artist Shin Tanaka(see above).

Onitsuka Tiger Australia http://www.onitsukatiger.com.au
Onitsuka UK Tiger http://www.onitsukatiger.co.uk
Onitsuka Tiger Origami http://shin.onitsukatiger.co.uk/