As the Japanese brand releases more compelling colour waves for their ‘Sportstyle’ sneakers and ramps up their collaborations, theirs are the kicks on many more style-craving feet. This could be the Year of Asics

Asics Gel-NYC in ‘Glacier Grey’

Running shoes are, as we have pointed out, the sneakers to cop, more than, say, off-pitch football kicks (you know which one we’re referring to). One brand that has been quietly gathering momentum in the popularity stakes is the 46-year-old Japanese brand Asics. Since their ‘Shamrock Green’ and silver GT-2160 was compared to Bottega Veneta’s Orbit last September—BV possibly inspired by the former, Asics had been garnering immense attention, especially among those who had no real sports obsession, but needed a pair of sneakers that were just not like the rest. Or, among technical dad shoe aficionados. American sneaker hounds were the first to rediscover the brand and allowed it to be ubiquitous, especially after JJJJound’s reimagined Asics Gel-Kayano 14 last year.

Indeed, Asics’s growing visibility and allure could be seen in some of the most unmistakable collaborations of 2013, such as with Kith on the Gel Kayano 14, somewhat bombastically with Brain Dead on the Gel-Nimbus 9, with Anderson Bell on the Balenciaga Track-busting Gel Sonoma 15—50, or even with Comme Des Garçons SHIRT on the slightly more-staid-than-the-rest EX89. And for the girls, those with Copenhagen-based designer Cecilie Bahnsen on the GT-2160, a geeky Asics style that is very much in demand, regardless of the colour combination. Asics designer collaborations, in fact, go back to 2019, when the late Vivienne Westwood chromatically tweaked the Gel-Kayano 5 with colours only she would have put out. Regardless of the pairing, the kicks with the mesh uppers and leather (or synthetic) overlays, including the striped logo—also known as Tiger Stripes—on the sides that represents motion and speed, Asics kicks are making wider strides now than they have in the past.

Asics store at Plaza Singapura

For a long time, Asics have not shared the cool that has been ascribed to, say, Nike. The Japanese brand was founded in 1949 as Onitsuka Co Ltd by Kihachiro Onitsuka to produce basketball ball shoes, but after it merged with two other companies in 1977 to form ASICS (acronym for the Latin expression, anima sana in corpore sano, or a sound mind in a sound body) Corporation, the brand took on a personality distinct from its older sibling, whose Mexico 1966 (that debuted in the Mexico Summer Olympics of 1968) was, by the late ’60s, a high-profile shoe. Asics like to regale the story of how they seeded Nike’s birth. As the popular lore goes, Mr Onitsuka met Phil Knight when he was pursuing his MBA in marketing. The latter was so inspired by that encounter that he started Blue Ribbon Sports to sell Asics in the US. But why sell the shoes of others when you can produce your own? Blue Ribbon Sports eventually morphed into Nike and the giant it is today.

Presently, the sneakers that are drawing tremendous attention from the fashion crowd fall under what Asics considers ‘Sportstyle’. It is, in fact, the lifestyle-centric division of the brand to which many of the trending sneakers and collaborations are tethered to. Interestingly, at the Asics store in Plaza Singapura recently, we noticed that while it was busy, the shoppers were crowded in front of the traditional running shoes, such as the GT-2000. A woman, wearing what could be the uniform of a running group, asked many questions and tried quite a few pairs recommended by a staffer. When he asked her how often she runs, she replied in Mandarin, “once a week”. We suspect that for most of the kicks that were displayed beneath the banner ‘Sportstyle’ (surprisingly in the rear of the store), the frequency of wear would be higher. What is especially appealing to us is that Asics does greys and silvers really well, and better than any brand—never too meretricious. For those of us not too keen on all-white kicks, the Asics running shoes, such as the Gel-NYC in Glacier Grey, are just what we jive with. As one sneaker fan told us, “It did take a while, but I eventually succumbed.”

Photos: Chin Boh Kay