Sportswear group Asics Corp. is believed to be in the process of shuttering its baseball equipment division as it looks to pivot its attention towards its cult sneaker business.
The Japanese conglomerate, which owns both the group’s eponymous brand Asics as well as Onitsuka Tiger, will reportedly stop selling baseball gloves, bats and other gear from late September 2025, a spokesperson for the company told Bloomberg. It was confirmed that it would continue to offer cleats.
The media outlet said that the decision comes after Asics’ reviewed its domestic portfolio, after which it determined that its resource allocation for baseball equipment had been “limited” compared to other sports.
The division had previously been reliant on sponsorship deals with baseball players, including with Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani, whose partnership with Asics ended in 2022 leading him to sign a new deal with New Balance Athletics last year.
Compared to the group’s other categories, its Apparel and Equipment division sees the lowest performance, as realised in the company’s most recent financial report for Q2 of the current financial year.
During this period, net sales for the category increased 3.5 percent, driven by Europe and in spite of weaker sales in Japan. This contrasted a 15.6 percent uptick in Performance Running net sales and a 4.1 percent increase in Core Performance Sports.
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