Yonex

Overview

Yonex Co., Ltd.

native name	ヨネックス株式会社
native name lang	ja
romanized name	Yonekkusu Kabushiki-gaisha
type	Public
traded as	tyo: 7906
founder	Minoru Yoneyama
foundation	1946 (incorporated in 1958)
location city	Bunkyō-ku, Tokyo
location country	Japan
key people	Ben Yoneyama,‡R1R‡ Chairman Alyssa Yoneyama, President
area served	Worldwide
industry	Sports equipment
products	Rackets, tennis balls, shuttlecocks, golf clubs, athletic shoes, apparel, bags, accessories
revenue	¥74.48 billion (2022)
net income	¥5.78 billion (2022)
subsid	Yonex Corporation Yonex UK Ltd. Yonex GmbH Yonex Taiwan Co., Ltd. Yonex Canada Ltd. Yonex Golf China Co., LTD
homepage	yonex.com

Yonex Co., Ltd. (ヨネックス株式会社) is a Japanese sports equipment manufacturing company. Yonex produces equipment and apparel for tennis, badminton, golf, running, and snowboarding.

Its range of products manufactured and commercialized includes equipment for badminton and tennis (rackets, shuttlecocks, balls, bags) and golf (clubs, bags). Yonex also produces athletic shoes and apparel including T-shirts, jackets, skirts, shorts, hoodies, leggings and hats.[2]

History

The company was founded in 1946 by Minoru Yoneyama as a producer of wooden floats for fishing nets. The company was later forced out of this market because of the invention of plastic floats. This led to a commitment by Yoneyama to never again be left behind by technological advancements.

Controversies

Yonex signed a contract with the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association regarding national team jersey sponsorship in 2014. However, Yonex would often send players clothing and shoes to wear a few days before major tournaments, with the shoes unfit for players, as players had blisters and bruises from playing in them.[8]

In May 2016, Yonex acted in a way that was ultra vires when criticizing the Taiwan national team players who had violated the dress code. Yonex sent official documents to the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association threatening to sue the national team head coaches if the Association did not provide a reasonable answer.[9]

During the 2016 Summer Olympics, Yonex provided unfit shoes to non-contract badminton player Tai Tzu-ying. This forced Tai to wear other shoes made by her personal sponsor brand, Victor, without any logo. This event caused a controversy as the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association was going to punish Tai based on Yonex's pressing.[10][11]

After the Tai incident, five other badminton players found themselves in the same situation and were punished. For example, Yonex was dissatisfied that badminton player Liao Kuan-hao used his personal sponsor racquet and as a result Yonex asked the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association to fine Liao and force him to be suspended for six months.[12] In August 2016, the Chinese Taipei Badminton Association held a board meeting to resolve the situation. The meeting resulted in three key decisions: no punishment will be enforced on the “player”; to accept the resignation of Chairman Tsai Hung-peng for the controversy; to remove the word “Shoes” and “Racquets” from the contract with Yonex.[13]

For the 2024 Summer Olympics, Yonex launched a new Olympic official kit for Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) in 23rd of June 2024.[14] However, it received heavy criticism and bashed by sports fans, calling the design "ugly", "cheap-looking" and questioned the decision of using off-looking Malaysia flag. In response, OCM agreed to redesign the attire to ensure it represents the nation's status and expectations.[15] Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin, Head of mission of OCM, explained that the confusion of the Malaysia flag is because the flag is represented by the official OCM logo. He also explained that the reason to the attire colour changes from orange to yellow is "to evoke the relentless pursue of medals for the nation at the prestigious global sporting event."

Yonex

History

Controversies

External links

References