Mayor Marty Walsh’s 2017 State of the City declared Boston the shoe capital of the country with New Balance, Converse and Reebok all having a significant presence within the city. Now there is a new shoe in town.
The American branch of Japan-based Asics has announced plans to open a creation and design studio near South Station, the Boston Globe reports. While the company did not specifically say what building would house the space, it is expected to initially employee 50 people: 25 transferred from its North American headquarters in Irvine, Calif., and global headquarters in Kobe, Japan, and 25 new hires. The company is also expected to open a retail store down the line.
As for the heightened competition from other Boston shoe companies, Asics America CEO Gene McCarthy is undeterred.
“Since I’m a feisty competitor myself, I do believe we need to go nose-to-nose and toe-to-toe with our competition, so sometimes you just have to be where the battle is,” McCarthy told the Globe.
The company is not entirely new to Boston. Asics acquired local company Fitness Keeper last year for $85M and created a global digital division from its Winthrop Square office. The startup, best known for its RunKeeper app, has a 50-person team, which McCarthy anticipates will grow to 70 in the next year.
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