ASICS Tiger Nets Two Endorsers

Hoping to add a little celebrity panache to its image, athletic shoemaker ASICS Tiger Inc. on Thursday signed two NBA basketball stars--Charles Smith of the Los Angeles Clippers and Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons--to endorse its basketball shoes.

The Japanese shoemaker, which has its U.S. distribution headquarters in Fountain Valley, also extended its endorsement contract with a third NBA star, former Laker Kurt Rambis, now of the Phoenix Suns.

The athletes have signed multiyear contracts that will include product endorsement of ASICS basketball footwear and apparel, personal appearances, sponsored youth and community basketball camps, and appearances in the company’s ongoing national advertising campaigns.

The company, which had sales of $140 million last year, did not reveal how much the athletes would be paid.

“We are proud to be working with athletes who are so highly regarded professionally, personally and morally, and who reflect our balanced-lifestyle philosophy,” said Peter Goehrig, vice president and general manager of ASICS Tiger.

ASICS is an acronym for the Latin term anima sana in corpore sano, meaning a sound mind in a sound body.

In July, ASICS Tiger launched a $10-million advertising campaign to sell its Gel-SpotLyte basketball shoes. The soles of the shoes are filled with gel capsules, which are supposed to absorb shock and weigh less than the “pump” shoes made by Reebok International Ltd. and Nike Inc.

The ASICS Tiger ads feature a one-on-one basketball game between a player wearing a pump shoe and a player wearing the gel shoe. ASICS Tiger officials said they hope that the comparison will help piggyback their ad on the bigger-budget ad campaigns of Nike and Reebok.