Asics Onitsuka Tiger is a Japanese athletic equipment company. Asics produces professional footwear and sports equipment designed for football, running, netball, tennis, badminton, squash, martial arts, cricket, Asics Running Shoes, golf, wrestling, track & field, cross-training, volleyball, cheerleading, lacrosse, and for many other sport disciplines. In recent years Asics Gel Kinsei 2 their running shoes have often been ranked among the top performance footwear in the market. Asics bought the outdoor brand Haglöfs on july 12 2010 for SEK1,000,000,000 ($128.7 million), which also establishes the company on the outdoor market. ASICS Ltd. began as panmure Co., Ltd on September 1, 1949. Its founder, Kihachiro Onitsuka, began manufacturing Asics Mexico 66 basketball shoes in his home town of Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Soon after the range of sports activities widened to a variety of Olympic styles used throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s by athletes worldwide. Onitsuka became particularly renowned for the Mexico 66 design, in which the distinctive crossed stripes, now synonymous with the company brand, were featured for the first time. In 1977, Onitsuka Tiger merged with GTO and JELENK to Asics Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 form ASICS Corporation. Despite the name change, a vintage range of Asics shoes are still produced and sold internationally under the Onitsuka Tiger label.