ASICS Listed in Dow Jones Sustainability Asia/Pacific Index

ASICS Corporation, a leading global sporting goods company, has been selected for the first time as a component company in the Dow Jones Sustainability Asia/Pacific Index. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indices(DJSI) is　a globally recognized Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index.

The DJSI is jointly determined by S&P Dow Jones Indices (US) and research and rating company RobecoSAM (Switzerland). The DJSI evaluates the sustainability of company business practices from three perspectives––economic, environmental, and social––and only firms that lead the industries based on the assessment are included in the indices. The DJSI Asia/Pacific Index covers companies in the Asia and Oceania region, and 145 companies were selected this year, including 40 from Japan.

ASICS has also been selected for the first time as a component company of another global SRI index, the MSCI Global Sustainability Indexes, compiled by US company MSCI.

“We are delighted for ASICS’ first ever listing in DJSI, “says Motoi Oyama, President and CEO of ASICS Corporation. “This honor recognizes our commitment to include sustainability considerations in every aspect of our business, and our work with partners on sustainability actions in the spirit of continuous improvement”.

This spirit of continuous improvement can be recognized in ASICS’ strong emphasis to improve environmental performance, which is supported by its use of ISO14001-certified environmental management systems at major locations. The company studies the environmental impact of its products through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), beginning with material development, product design and manufacture, and across the entire product lifetime. ASICS has also completed an initial project using LCA (S-LCA Scan) to study social impacts in the supply chain including not only factory-level risks such as labor rights but also wider community and country-level risk factors.

Earlier this year, ASICS conducted its first Materiality Assessment. It is a part of a continuous program which ASICS examines stakeholder’s expectations regarding sustainability issues and cross references them with the company’s strategic priorities in its operations and products. ASICS’ CSR & Sustainability approach is closely aligned with the 2016-2020 Strategic Growth plan which is to be disclosed in the first quarter of 2016.

For further details on ASICS’ CSR and sustainability activities, please see the company website. http://corp.asics.com/en/csr