KEIKO TAKAYAMA ’00

Materials Developer, Onitsuka Tiger, ASICS

Ever since she was a little girl, Keiko Takayama ’00 loved to create things with her hands. She couldn’t resist touching the beautiful fabrics she found—lustrous satin fabrics, pleated fabrics with many overlapping folds, and prints with countless colors. For her high school graduation project, Keiko created a patchwork quilt from vintage kimonos. She combined different colors, materials, and patterns and hand stitched them together one by one. It was a melding of her life experiences and her passion.

After graduation, building on her love for art and sports, she joined ASICS in the lifestyle fashion sneaker category. Here she proposed new projects utilizing the latest trends, colors, and materials. Her passion for track and field and cross country changed from competitor to supporter, but even so, it was an important choice to stay in the sporting world.

In her third year with ASICS, Keiko was transferred to the corporation’s European headquarters where she was exposed to Europe’s vivid fashion and art world. After seven years in the Netherlands, she moved to the Irvine, California and Boston, Massachusetts offices before returning to the Japanese headquarters three years ago. Her latest assignment is to bring lifestyle products that are more circular and environmentally friendly to the world.

ASICS’ identity has changed dramatically over the past two decades. Compared to 20 years ago, the ASICS brand is recognized not only by professional and amateur athletes alike, but also by fashionable young people worldwide. In 2022, ASICS was named Best Footwear Brand of the Year by HYPEBEAST and The Best Sneakers of 2022 by GQ magazine. ASICS has refashioned itself from being a trend-chasing brand to a trendsetting brand, and Keiko is proud to have been a part of this great change.

ASICS is an acronym for the Latin expression “Anima Sana In Corpore Sano”—“You should pray for a healthy mind in a healthy body.”