"ASICS slammed for backing factory that jailed unionist and denies basic rights", 22 August 2025

Global sportswear giant ASICS is facing international condemnation for backing a Cambodian supplier factory that fabricated criminal charges to jail a union leader for six months and forcing 20,000 workers to continue enduring abuses.

Chea Chan, a father of three and former mechanic at Wing Star Shoes, was violently arrested without a warrant at the ASICS supplier ... He spent six months in prison on charges later ruled baseless by the Cambodian Appeals Court, which confirmed that the factory’s management had filed a police complaint against him without any real evidence - a clear act of retaliation for Chan’s efforts to form its first independent union…

ASICS has refused to provide Chan with compensation for the harm to his health and the deep financial losses his family suffered, during his six month imprisonment, more than a year after his release…

ASICS publicly claims to uphold human rights, but its own record tells another story. The company falsely insisted that Wing Star had not filed charges against Chan, despite court documents proving the factory initiated the case—even after the prosecutor admitted there was no evidence. ASICS also cited the existence of five unions at Wing Star as proof of freedom of association, yet workers report these are employer-controlled “yellow unions” that automatically enroll employees and deduct wages without consent.

A spokesperson from the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU), said: “Chan continues being punished by the ASICS factory: he has been forced to work in an isolated outbuilding and denied the ability to engage with other workers. He has not been reinstated to his old job, and he said this to ASICS auditors six months ago but nothing has changed. It is clear that they will not respect any of the workers’ rights unless ASICS does something.”…

Despite this record, ASICS, also the owner of Onitsuka Tiger, declared record profits in May 2025. Just weeks earlier, it launched the ASICS Foundation, vowing to “respect human rights and contribute to the well-being of every person working in our supply chain.” Yet the company still refuses to compensate Chan for the estimated $70,000 in losses that he suffered due to imprisonment on baseless accusations by ASICS’ supplier, or to address the systemic abuses endured by 20,000 Cambodian workers making its shoes…