What the garment is and where it came from
Mizuno Corporation is a Japanese sports equipment and sportswear company founded in Osaka in 1906 by Rihachi Mizuno. It began as Mizuno Brothers, Ltd., run by Rihachi, who lived from 1884 to 1970, and his younger brother Rizo. The shop sold Western-world sundries, including baseballs, and in 1907 began to sell order-made athletic wear. In 1910 it moved to Umeda-Shinmichi and became the Mizuno Shop, in 1913 it began to manufacture baseballs and gloves, and in 1941 it took the name Mizuno Co., Ltd., which it has kept.
This brief is written from one source, the Wikipedia article on the company, and keeps to what that article says.
How it works, in terms someone would actually use
The source describes Mizuno by what it makes and for which sports: table tennis, boxing, badminton, golf, baseball, mixed martial arts, football, rugby, running, skiing, athletics, swimming, tennis, volleyball and others. Its detail is mostly about golf. The JPX irons are described as built to balance ball speed, forgiveness and distance control, and the Mizuno Pro forged irons as blade-style. Custom fitting uses Shaft Optimizer 3D, which recommends club configurations from swing data. The M.CRAFT putters are milled from 1025 mild carbon steel.
In baseball, the late 1970s Mizuno Baseball Workshop was a forty-foot van fitted with leather-working equipment and run by two skilled Japanese craft workers. It made gloves to order and repaired all brands for major league clubs during spring training in Arizona and Florida.
What it gets right
Golf is where the source credits it most. It says 13 of the 24 players who have held the men’s number one ranking, as of 2022, have used Mizuno equipment. Tiger Woods used Mizuno clubs until he signed a deal with Titleist and turned professional in 1996, but kept playing them for his first year and a half as a professional while he waited for his Titleist set, and he won his first Masters in 1997 with his Mizuno clubs. The source also lists sponsorship deals with Carl Lewis, the All Blacks, Joe Montana, the Manu Samoa rugby team, Ivan Lendl, Nick Faldo and Rickey Henderson.
What it does not
The source describes equipment far more than clothing. It describes no particular garment, cloth or cut, so this brief cannot say how Mizuno’s sportswear is made. Its history is also not only sport: during the Second World War it manufactured military ordnance for Japan’s war effort, and its military design work included the Mizuno Shinryu, a proposed rocket-powered interceptor that never left the prototype stage.
What it changed
The source records milestones rather than effects. In 1933 it presented Star Line, the first Japanese-made golf clubs, and by 1935 its golf club showroom was the world’s largest. Its first American factory opened in Los Angeles in 1961 as American Mizuno, and it later opened factories in Germany, France, China, Scotland and Hong Kong. Rihachi Mizuno also promoted sport itself, hosting baseball tournaments in Japan, and a sports foundation was set up in his will. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.
Who it is for, and who it is not
It is for players of the sports it supplies, and the JPX irons are designed for a range of players while the Mizuno Pro forged irons are designed with traditional blade-style aesthetics and are used by some professional golfers. The golf balls are split by what the player wants, with the RB Tour aimed at spin control and the RB 566 at carry and forgiveness. It is not for a reader who wants a catalogue of the company’s apparel, because the article does not give one.
Is it worth your time
Yes, as a picture of a company that started in 1906 as an Osaka shop selling Western sundries including baseballs, added order-made athletic wear in 1907 and became a global maker for many sports. For the clothes themselves you will need another source.
