Our History

Since players of an American professional baseball team wore over sweaters when they came to Japan in 1920, they became popular among students who loved baseball. It quickly spread among the general public, and over sweaters ended up being a mega hit.

When the daily wages of full-fledged craftsmen were around 1 yen, a pair of hickory skis was about 30 yen. Therefore, only wealthy people could afford them. After World War II, Mizuno contributed to increasing the skiing population by completely changing the means of production, promoting rational mechanization, and paying particular attention to research and development.

When Mizuno first began producing track and field cleats, the material was leather, and long heavy pins were used as spikes. They are the item which has been supported by many top athletes since then and was the starting point of Mizuno's growth into what it is today.

This is the first golf club which Mizuno produced in Japan. Also, this model is Mizuno’s first forged iron club, which is an important technology passed down and used even these days.

At that time, people used the same type of glove no matter what their position was. Paying attention to movements in baseball which require different ways of catching the ball depending on the position that they play in the field, Mizuno became the first company in the world to develop a catcher's and first baseman's mitt focusing on how players fielding these positions catch the ball.

Mizuno started manufacturing gliders to commemorate its 30th year in business. After years of facing many challenges, a team of engineers successfully conducted a test flight over Mt. Fuji. In 1940, the “Type 301 Soarer” set a new Japanese record for altitude and flight duration.

Right after the war, it became extremely difficult to get leather, which had been used to manufacture baseball gloves until then. Under such circumstances, baseball gloves made of cloth were manufactured out of the founder’s strong belief that “because Japan is in a dark place now, we need the power of sports more than ever.”

Around 1946 right after the end of the war, Mizuno started making a prototype of a tennis racket in its own factory. The following year, facilities were expanded and reinforced, and full-scale manufacture was started. Entering the 1950s, research on not only conventional material of wood but also fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) was advanced. In 1952, the production of tennis and badminton rackets grew so fast that the number of rackets produced reached around 10,000.

Mizuno started selling high-end golf clubs called “Grand Monarch.” This series was inducted into the American Golf Hall of Fame later in 1977.

The Mizuno shoes, named “M-Line”, which covered all needs from athletic to daily-use made a big splash around the world. In 1975, Mizuno developed the new M-Line series with a more advanced M shape.

The World Win baseball glove became a synonym for a high-class glove in the market in those days. It was developed by giving much consideration to the opinions of contracted players. Many baseball players became familiar with the cup mark as a symbol of Mizuno at that time.

They are the representative of M-Line football spikes, which consider how to respond to various movements such as momentary plunge, sudden stop and rapid turn. The use of light materials made it possible to reduce fatigue even after a series of rough plays and to assist nimble footwork.

Mizuno became the 1st manufacturer in the world to develop and market a golf club which uses carbon for its head.

That is a mark of the shoes which expresses “an orbit of a planet.” It is named “RunBird” for its shape. Now it is the corporate logo of Mizuno and carries a vital role as the symbol of the company’s brand.

This pair of boots, which weighed 245 grams each, was globally marketed as an extremely light pair of shoes in those days. Based on the concept of “light, flexible, and barefoot senses”, they were developed as boots that could be used by anyone irrespective of their skill level and the position which they play on the field in an effort to further draw out the potential of many footballers.

This racket became widely known to the world because a well-known female professional tennis player used it in those days, which led to a huge hit in the country. This model used two kinds of special materials, which absorbed the impact and vibration that traveled to the arm, reducing the burden on it.

This glove was planned and produced to meet the request of an ambidextrous player of a Major League Baseball team in those days. It provided a pocket for accommodating the thumb on both of its sides so that the player could use it with their right or left hand even during a game, and the web was placed in the center of the glove. It was a product that represented the can-do spirit Mizuno had maintained since its founding.

Mizuno Pro aimed to become number one in all aspects, including functionality, quality, and material. Since developers created the most natural shape of a hand from hand samples of many active players in those days and designed the glove using detailed calculations, Mizuno Pro was praised as a glove that was closest to the human hand and most faithful to its essential movements.

Mizuno became the world’s first manufacturer to develop and market golf clubs with a titanium head.

These cleats helped establish the then new world record of 9.86 seconds for 100m. That was the moment when not only the athlete but also all developers who had entered Mizuno wishing to “create shoes that would help produce a new world record” realized their dream.

Notus golf clubs went on sale. They became a big hit due to a new product plan and a winning marketing strategy.

This is Mizuno’s key material that responds to moisture seeping out of the skin and generates heat in the clothing. At that time, it was developed for winter sports, but in recent years, it has evolved into a daily-use material.

Based on biomechanics, Mizuno came up with the concept of “9-point baseball cleats”, which was beyond conventional wisdom, and garnered public attention. Mizuno is the pioneer of 9-point baseball spikes, which are considered to be standard throughout the world today.

Mizuno develops “Cat Plus”, running shoes with enhanced forefoot functionality

Mizuno developed a corrugated plate called “Mizuno Wave”, which overcame two contradictory requirements: cushioning and stability. Today, the “Wave Rider” running shoes, which use this plate, are one of Mizuno’s signature series of shoes.

This revolutionary bat completely overturned the accepted idea that “hard rubber balls do not fly far because they are soft and bats are hard”. Use of a special soft resin for the portion of the bat that hits the ball achieved flying distance that was supposed to be impossible in the Japanese-style baseball which uses hard rubber balls.

This is the first model of the Wave Lightning series of Mizuno volleyball shoes which have been highly rated by many users from top athletes to casual players.

“Infinity Wave” exhibits the functionality of Mizuno Wave to the maximum extent by reducing the mid-sole sponge. It substantially improved the cushioning, stability, and resilience of Mizuno shoes and prevented them from easily running out of elasticity.

In order to support the feet of the world’s top athletes, Mizuno worked together closely with players to develop the WAVE IGNITUS shoes. In developing this model, the developers paid particular attention to a unique panel which made it easy to perform special no-spin kicks.

Mizuno launched the “Mizuno GX” competition swimsuit, which is certified by the International Swimming Federation (FINA). The concept of this competition swimsuit is “flat swim”, which has become the fundamental concept for all competition swimsuits for more than ten years since.

This pair of football spikes does not only support players’ linear acceleration but also are designed to allow them to make high-speed turns easily while maintaining their speed.

“MS Craft Baseball Turf”, artificial turf for baseball, was adopted in a professional baseball stadium for the first time. By October 2021, it gained the biggest market share of artificial turf in the national baseball stadiums.

Regarding “Morelia”, Mizuno put its maximum effort into making the shoes including the choice of materials and the quality of the manufacturing process. 2015 marked this model’s 30th anniversary, but its design and shape have not undergone any major changes, and it continues to carry on its tradition.

Development of “Sports Style” started as a new lifestyle category for the sports casual wear market. It was launched as fashion sneakers with functions, quality and stories nurtured in the history of Mizuno. It started as 2 collections: “RB Collection”, which used RB mark and “M-Line”, which used shoe line from the 1970’s. “M-Line” changed its name to “MLC” in 2021 and continued its sales.

It is a pair of working shoes whose features are soft feeling and mobility. These are the result of using all the knowledge gained from the development of sports shoes.
Starting with the launch of the shoes, Mizuno entered the market of working goods on a full scale.

With the concept of “shoes that create critical plays”, Mizuno launched a soccer shoes series called “REBULA”, which can control both speed and touch of the ball. This model is worn by numerous professional players.

“Squat Sourire” and “Abs Pulule” are the first-generation products of “Mizuno Healthy Interior”, which was born as a “health appliance” that can fit into living areas as interior goods.

In the development of “DRY AEROFLOW”, Mizuno paid special attention to films of sweat which lower breathability of cloth and cause discomfort. Even during drenching sweat, the level of performance and comfort is kept by preventing films of sweat to maintain breathability. This is adopted as material for sportswear that a number of top athletes put on.

Mizuno sold 20,000 mouth covers made with swimsuit fabric on the official online shop. They were sold out on that day as it was a popular topic. In July 2021, the sum total of mouth covers sold reached 10 million.

“MIZUNO ENERZY” was developed, which is a high resilience material for shoes that achieved the highest resilience in Mizuno’s history. As a key material of Mizuno, it is used for various types of shoes including running shoes and indoor shoes.

“Wave Rider” celebrated its 25th anniversary and has improved to be the most popular Mizuno shoes in the world with high resilience material “MIZUNO ENERZY” being newly installed in the whole sole.

“Katanaα” was launched, which is a leaf spring for prosthetic legs aimed at people who enter competitions. This is a product to realize a dream of people with disabilities to “run.”

The new material called “Pure Hyper” was developed, which has stain-resistant, antibacterial and deodorizing functions. It is easy to remove stains from it, and it suppresses the increase of bacteria on fiber, which is the cause of odor.