Yes, ASICS has decided to permanently enter the “GAME” by focusing its efforts on the shoe. On the sidelines of Madrid P2, we interviewed Anthony Marguet, ASIC Europe sports director outside of running. And you will see that the speech and the direction are clear.

“ASICS and padel: a story that began long before the sport spread to the rest of Europe”

The history of padel at ASICS began before I joined the company, more than 10 years ago. Originally, it was really a very localized investment in Spain.

Our Spanish colleagues quickly identified this sport as being booming and saw an opportunity. They said that this sector needed to be invested in: create rackets, shoes, textiles and luggage dedicated to padel.

Very quickly, we became one of the first brands to really invest in this sport. We completed the equipment of the padel player, which quickly allowed us to become number 1 in Spain and to establish ourselves as the reference brand in the world of padel, also sponsoring the best players. ASICS and padel is a story that began in Spain, long before the sport spread to the rest of Europe.

asics padel showroom
asics padel showroom

“Focusing our efforts on what makes us strong: shoes”

Franck Binisti: Pablo Lima is an iconic padel player, who ended his career with ASICS. You have chosen to continue the adventure with padel, but with a special focus on footwear.

Yes, it was a strategic decision that was made about 3 or 4 years ago. At that time, we reassessed our profitability and our priorities. Although the market offered more and more opportunities, we found that profitability in certain segments, such as snowshoes, was becoming more difficult to maintain.

We also saw the arrival of giants in the world of snowshoes, companies with cutting-edge expertise in composite materials. We realized that this was not our area of ​​expertise and that we could not compete in terms of innovation on this point. On the other hand, what we have known how to do since 1949 is shoes. So we decided to focus our efforts on what makes us strong: shoes. We are confident that we can continue to provide the best solutions for the feet of padel players, but for rackets it is becoming difficult to compete with the giants of the sector.

“We invest in specific research dedicated to padel”

Today we have a fairly complete range of shoes for padel. We offer more than four different models, depending on the style of play. Some players prioritize control and stability, while others seek speed on the court. We have segmented our range into two main categories, inspired by tennis, but adapted to padel. In addition, we are increasingly investing in specific research to improve the performance of padel shoes.

ASICS FF3 PADEL

Comfort is one of our major development axes. When we brief our engineers in Japan, we ask them to improve the comfort, lightness and speed of the shoe. They then use lighter materials while maintaining performance. FF3 is therefore an evolution of FF2. Each new generation is tested and validated by our players, who quickly adopt it in competition. As did Coki Nieto, who decided to play with FF3 from the quarter-finals of a tournament, which is quite remarkable.

Coki Nieto Asics
Coki Nieto Asics
Anthony Marguet ASICS

Until recently, padel operated with “full silhouette” contracts

Unlike tennis, where contracts are segmented (racket, shoes, textiles), padel until recently operated with "complete silhouette" contracts, including racket, shoes and textiles. But things are changing. Players are increasingly realizing the importance of having high-performance shoes. We are seeing more and more players wanting to differentiate their contracts between rackets and shoes, which allows us to intervene more easily.

I think that the "full silhouette" contracts will decrease in padel. Brands are starting to understand that they have to focus on what they do best, whether it's the racket or the shoe. And the players, for their part, want the best possible equipment for every aspect of their game.

To see the interview in its entirety:

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.

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