The art of ASICS

Most people wearing the first ASICS Gel-Kayanos in the mid-’90s probably didn’t realise that they had a stag beetle’s pincers on the soles of their feet. When the toes aligned underneath the sole, a pattern formed, resembling the stag beetle’s scissors; the shoe design, meanwhile, mimicked the insect’s robust and sharply angled body and limbs.

The idea for the ASICS Gel-Kayano was sparked by a spontaneous idea that designer Toshikazu Kayano had during a business trip to the US. The trip in itself had been a flop, Kayano admitted during a roundtable discussion with international fashion media in Tokyo back in September. ​“I was in a meeting with the US [ASICS] personnel, I brought 50 sketches of the shoes and they were dumped because they didn’t like them,” he explained. His delivery date was already fixed, and he was nervous about returning to Japan having failed his mission.

Shortly after, in a restaurant, inspiration struck: Kayano grabbed a pen and napkin, and pitched the US team a more innovative sketch. This time, the design took inspiration from the stag beetle, and the shoes would have a wide range of motion, agility and durability, as well as a powerful and aggressive silhouette. They would be suitable for everyday life, as well as running and indoor sports training. The rest is history.

Toshikazu Kayano has worked at ASICS since the late ​‘80s and his surname has been emblazoned on countless feet across the world, thanks to the enduring popularity and ever-evolving nature of the Gel-Kayanos. The brand is deeply rooted in logic and science – every design is meticulously crafted to prioritise comfort and functionality. But ASICS is also an acronym for the Latin expression Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, which translates as ​“you should pray for a healthy mind in a healthy body” and is displayed as an artwork at the company’s headquarters in Kobe. These days, though, the company’s mantra is simply ​“sound body sound mind”.

Kayano’s emotional connection with the company began in childhood. Growing up in the Japanese countryside, every day on his way to school he’d walk past a factory owned by the ASICS – then known as Onitsuka Co. Ltd. He had an uncle who worked there and would bring him home shoes. In 1987, Kayano took a job designing bikes for ASICS (yep, they used to sell those, too). The first shoe he eventually designed, the GEL-Extreme basketball shoe, was inspired by the mountains, cities and coastlines he observed from airplane windows on his trips to the US. He’s claimed his peers were initially confused by his desire to bring ​“sentimental elements” into the design.

The first basketball shoe by Onitsuka Co. Ltd

“The word ​‘functionality’ sounds something scientific, mechanical or rigid,” Kayano said in a recent interview for the ASICS issue of Magazine B. ​“But to me, it’s a beautiful moment when the human body moves in sport. Picture a basketball player jumping and making a basket – the way their muscles move is absolutely fascinating isn’t it? I wanted athletic shoes to look as visually appealing as that kind of beautiful, functional movement.”

Kayano wasn’t the first designer at the company to think outside the box. ASICS, back when it was still known as the Onitsuka Co. Ltd, released its first basketball shoe in the early 1950s. Crafting soles for basketball players is apparently tricky – they need to stop and start quickly, to have good grip but swiftly rotate on various angles. The company’s founder, Kihachiro Onitsuka, solved the dilemma on his lunchbreak, after looking down at the octopus tentacle on his plate, and deciding to incorporate suction cups on the soles of the shoes.

Fast forward to the 2020s, and ASICS Sportstyle has massive cultural relevance beyond the running track or the gymnasium. These days you’ll spot ASICS at fashion week, art exhibition openings, on the shelves at Dover Street Market and pushing Lime Bike pedals in the trendiest areas of London. A lot of this is thanks to the creative flair of its many collaborators.

Some of ASICS’ most head-turning collaborations have been with Danish fashion designer Cecilie Bahnsen, whose elegant and sturdy shoes feature her signature floral patterns and flower trinkets, as well as layers with materials combining matte, shiny and transparent appearances. ​“I think [footwear] is where people really express a lot of personality and a lot of identity,” Bahnsen tells me, ​“and you feel like maybe I would go a bit bolder than I would do on a jacket or so on.” Debuting at her SS23 show during Paris Fashion Week, her first limited batch sold out within minutes.

A long admirer of ASICS and Japanese craftsmanship, Bahnsen was pleased to find the team open-minded and encouraging of her developing the show designs just like she would with her dresses. ​“It was really fascinating,” she says, ​“simultaneously having comfort and functionality at heart, but also just seeing that the team didn’t ask any question of ​‘why should we do this?’ It’s just like, ​‘oh, that’s exciting. We haven’t tried this before.’ And ​‘you want to add 3D flowers onto a shoe that you also need to be able to walk in – okay, how can we solve it?’”

It’s been fun to watch how other brands and designers interpret ASICS, too. In 2019 Vivienne Westwood incorporated her playful Squiggle print, which was first used in her Pirate AW81 debut catwalk collection. CP Company has merged Italian sportswear with Japanese craftsmanship and delivered a boldly bright yellow shoe. The Art in Motion Collection – a 2022 limited edition release designed by three local Southeast Asian artists – featured vibrant references such as yin and yang designs, tiger stripe motifs, and a colourway reflecting the basketball court. Drake-approved Toronto brand Bentgablentis hand-sewed antique charms to each unique pair, while anonymous streetwear moodboard Hidden NY channelled early ​’90s nostalgia with their recent Dusk collection. Braindead and Kiko Kostadinov’s ASICS Sportstyle Gel-Fratellis were playfully mismatched.

In cutting-edge fashion circles, the most talked about ASICS collaborator must be Kostadinov. Having started his own brand in 2016 after graduating from Central Saint Martins, the Bulgarian designer began working with ASICS in 2017. His prolific output with the brand created such an instant buzz that, in 2019, he decided to pause the collaboration (“people were recognising the shoes more than the [Kiko Kostadinov] brand,” he told GQ). He then resumed the partnership with ASICS Novalis. Always tastefully presented, a recent ​“Sonic Experience” hosted by Kostadinov and ASICS saw the likes of Japanese composer Midori Takada, visual artist Florian Hecker and PAN Records head Bill Kouligas perform in a Tokyo church.

After the conversation with Toshikazu Kayano in Tokyo, I spoke with Go Suzuki, ASICS Sportstyle’s Senior General Manager, about the significance of Kostadinov’s work with the brand. ​“He’s somebody that does not compromise functionality over style. He can really blend both,” Suzuki says.

Many decades from now, when we’re having a nostalgic moment for 2020s fashion, Kostadinov’s ASICS Novalis will be remembered as being synonymous with the era. So what’s the secret to the collaboration’s success? ​“First and foremost, he really deeply understands us. He probably knows more ASICS than me,” Suzuki says. ​“When he comes to visit us in Kobe, he will spend hours – eight, nine hours, 10 hours – just digging our archive and really trying to understand us. So because of that understanding, he can really bring out the best in us.”