The best of two worlds. The Asics x A.P.C. collaboration on the GEL-SONOMA 15-50 is out now on Footshop, featuring three sneaker colourways that combine the remarkable comfort and Japanese aesthetic of Asics with the precise elegance of the French fashion atelier. Sneakers that appeal to A.P.C. designers with comfort, stitched with a needle of emotion and storytelling. Come find out more about them.
The world of sneakers in 2023 is a diverse show full of eclecticism, where, alongside running sneakers from the most celebrated athletes, there are collaborations that are perhaps not so much a match. And that’s exactly the story being written by the fusion of Japanese performance icon Asics with French high-end brand A.P.C. (Atelier de Production et e Création). Asics is famous for its impeccable technique and sporty colours, while A.P.C. is defined above all by its elegant minimalism and austerity – and it was finding the intersection of the two lines of thought that, according to the authors, was both the driving force and the most fun in creating the results of the collaboration.
The head of A.P.C. is Tunisian-born designer Jean Touitou, who was never much of a sneakerhead himself. But as he details in an interview with Sneaker Freaker, when he first put on the Asics GEL-SONOMA, he felt he’d never worn a more comfortable sneaker before. “At the same time, I felt they worked great with denim. So I wore them to an event and all evening I had people coming up to me and asking me about the shoes – no one really cared about me,” explains Monsieur Touitou. He goes on to reveal in the interview that, as with his work on other A.P.C. projects, the process was not very rational or calculated. In fact, fun was an essential element. Therefore, when Jean Touitou’s wife was present in the studio with her tie-dyed socks while designing the sneakers, the designers decided to add a few tie-dyed elements – and it just worked.
Collaborations like the one with A.P.C. were one of the reasons why the Kobe brand’s name was being mentioned in the context of the year’s best brands, where, with no clear winner, this contest for the top spot was being held primarily by New Balance. Asics, then, continues its trend this year of combining seemingly very different influences into workable combinations that are ultimately greeted by fans of the two combined shores. Actually, they ended up literally fighting over them- which is why the Asics x A.P.C. collab will be gone from Footshop very quickly. So catch your pair.
Partly related to the trend mentioned in this article is why the Nike Zoom Vomero 5, which you can read more about here, aspires to be the sneaker of the year.
- Summer must burn - 10. 5. 2023
- On Feet: The best sneakers of the week are dominated by New Balance - 4. 5. 2023
- 4 colours of 2023 that define a separate trend category - 5. 4. 2023
