History

To know where you are going, you first have to know where you came from

These are the moments that set our history in motion, and still push us forward today.

41 kilograms, 61 kilometres

Before there was a PEARL iZUMi, there was a man and a bike. He rode that bike 61 kilometers a day, every day. Not for exercise or for the fun of it, but to deliver 41 kilograms of clothing to his customers in a neighboring village. The year: 1950. The man’s name: Kinji Shimizu. And in fourteen short years, he’d go from lugging clothing on a bike to redefining what every cyclist wore on them.

1 in 15

In 1964, one of Kinji’s sons, Hiro, raced for the Japanese national team at the Asian Cycling Championships. The team ordered its usual fourteen cotton kits. And a special fifteenth. After the races, the team director filled a helmet with scraps of paper with each racer’s name. As fate would have it, Hiro’s name was pulled. He won the special jersey. It was made in Italy and 100% nylon. Unlike anything he’d ever seen before.

Relentless force

Later that year, Kinji created his first kit based on that design made in Italy. He used only the best materials he could find. Kinji continued pushing his concepts. He was endless in his endeavours, constantly researching new fabrics and studying the body in motion. Over the next five decades, this obsessive approach led to innovation after innovation. Building the very foundation for everything we do today.