ASICS SS23: Their Most Comfortable Running Shoe Yet, And A Beautiful Sportswear Series Designed By Women

Heat wave got you down? Not for ASICS. With cooling fabrics, the coolest sportswear-meets-street sneakers, and as usual, next-level running shoes — the GEL NIMBUS™ 25 in particular — that give us more reason to exercise, this season’s picks are all Spring/Summer blockbuster hits in their own right.

Not so coincidentally, these all tie in very well with the Japanese brand’s new manifesto, ‘Nothing Feels Better than Moving with ASICS’, a movement we can participate in with the #NothingFeelsBetter hashtag on social media. “Moving with ASICS uplifts the mind, and this has always been our founding purpose and mission,” said Gabriel Yap, Regional Marketing Director of ASICS Asia, while also sharing about the positive power of movement.

The goal here is to get us moving wherever we are — hopefully off the couch and into the gym — whether it’s by developing their most comfortable running shoe yet in order to help us take each step with ease, or a women’s activewear series, designed by women, that inspires us to keep ourselves active and energised.

Ahead, we give you a lowdown on the Spring/Summer 2023 launches that we’re most excited about.

THE GEL-NIMBUS™ 25

Runners, listen up. The ASICS GEL-NIMBUS™ 25 is the elite running shoe to get, since it uses the most advanced technology, designed via athlete-training testing, in order to develop the best specifications for what they’re calling “the most comfortable running shoe”.

A culmination of 18 months of development work, the shoe features a new PureGEL™ technology that’s softer and lighter than previous editions, while enabling the softest landings to date. It’s also strategically integrated in the midsole for even better shock absorption and smoother transitions.

Then there’s improved underfoot cushioning too, via an energetic FF BLAST™ + ECO cushioning that further contains 20% more foam for literally more spring in your step; this feature is also made with at least 20% bio-based material from renewable resources.

The running shoe is also upgraded with a soft and stretchy knit tongue and collar construction for a flexible and more adaptive fit around the ankle. A new knit upper makes for a visually stunning shoe, while we like the seamless design and fresh colourways too, presented here in hero shades of coral and bright blue.

In other words, they’re telling us to get used to running harder and faster than ever, since we’re about to feel lighter and more comfortable while doing so too.

above: GEL-NIMBUS™ 25 in ISLAND BLUE/SUN PEACH and papaya/dusty purple, $259 each. more colourways HERE.

NAGINO COLLECTION

When it comes to purposefully crafted activewear for women, who better to trust than fellow women, who’d intuitively understand our bodies’ requirements — and no doubt, aesthetic concerns too? Cue the NAGINO™ collection, a series of cross-category sporting apparel and shoes that we’d describe as beautiful.

Just look at the colour combinations here; pastel blue and light peachy pink make the cut, in ombre tones that evoke sunrise mornings at the beach. Beyond that, each of these are functionally designed to enable women to move freely, and inspired body confidence while working out.

The collection name itself is just as inspiring. ‘NAGINO’ is a combination of two Japanese characters, 凪 (NAGI) that refers to the calmness of the sea and a stable emotional state, and 乃 (NO), which stands for individuality. The series, thus, calls for women to seek solace in movement, especially amid the busyness of daily life.

In terms of its range, the functional product line features items suitable for performance running, training, tennis, studio work such as pilates and yoga, and SPORTSTYLE, suitable for casual wear. Running apparel, for instance, sees a quick-drying run unitard made with a premium heathered knit fabric that both flatters the figure and provides essential support; high-waisted run shorts are thoughtfully shaped to increase one’s freedom of movement as well. Pair this with the new GEL-NIMBUS™ 25, or the bouncy and lightweight NOVABLAST, in matching pastel shades, of course.

While looking at the training options, the Flex Seamless Bra and Seamless Tight are no-brainers in shades of Fawn (rose-nude) and Light Steel (pastel blue), though we’ve got our eye on the versatile Flex SS Top that has a stylish back opening to generate more airflow.

For street kicks, the EX89™ sneaker is a versatile number that takes on the retro court aesthetics of the GEL-EXTREME™ basketball shoe from 1989. The layered leather upper makes it ideal when worn with jeans, or any outfit you’d like to style it with, while we also love the heel wedge that’s now updated with FF BLAST™ cushioning.

above: the NAGINO™ COLLECTION, from $45 to $259.

SPORTSTYLE — GEL-NYC™

If you didn’t already know, ASICS’ SPORTSTYLE range is a unique category that brings their expert sports technology to everyday lifestyle wear; it’s here that we see plenty of collaborations with renowned designers as well.

The recent pairing of the GEL-NYC™ silhouette and Awake NY‘s street-style sensibilities, for instance, sees the dad-shoe design decked out in pretty unconventional colours — purple and gold, or teal and pink. Designed by Angelo Baque and his team at Awake NY, they’re no doubt made to stand out as Baque’s ode to New York City, and are likewise inspired by vintage culture as well.

In fact, the GEL-NYC™ sneaker itself is a mash-up of an early 2000s GEL-NIMBUS™ 3 that forms the shoe’s upper, blended with the GEL-CUMULUS™ 16 shoe’s tooling system and today’s technology for comfortable longwear. This season, we’re looking at industrial-style colourways of Black / Clay Grey, Cream / Steel Grey, and White / Ivy,