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ZETT: The Japanese Baseball Company Nobody Knows—or Do They?

 

Ask an American baseball fan to name an equipment company, and you will probably hear Rawlings or Wilson. Ask about ZETT, and you may get a blank look.

 

In Japan, it is a different story. ZETT has been part of baseball for generations. Its roots go back to 1920, when Ryozo Watanabe started a business selling bags and sporting goods. One of his early hits was a coin purse shaped like a baseball glove. As the sport grew in Japan, his company grew with it, eventually becoming Zett Corporation in 1980.

 

But is ZETT really unknown in American baseball? In 1991, the company signed Roger Clemens. More recently, ZETT signed an equipment agreement with Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai, who joined the Houston Astros for the 2026 season.

 

That is what makes ZETT interesting to me. A brand can be unfamiliar to many fans and still have a long history at the highest level of the game. The next time you watch a pitcher set his glove before a delivery, take a closer look at the name on the leather. You might recognize it after all.