Exclusive: Kenzo Teams Up With Asics on Range of Gel-Kayano 20 Sneakers
Stephen Garner
Senior Editor
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Just days after showing its fall/winter 2024 menswear collection, Kenzo has unveiled a new shoe collaboration with Asics.
Designed by Kenzo artistic director Nigo, the collab features three gender neutral colorways of Asics Gel-Kayano 20 sneaker model.
The first colorway features an array of blue, lime green and orange. Another is reminiscent of the sober silver, gold and white colorway of the original Gel-Kayano shoe. And the third and last style showcases vivid colors such as blue, green, pink, yellow and orange, all contrasted by sporty white. Plus of the three styles, two of them see the functional cage of the Gel-Kayano 20 reinterpreted with Kenzo’s tiger graphics, both with faux-fur applied on the all-upper surface.
In all iterations, the Asics label appears on the right tongue of the pair, while the Kenzo logo is featured on the left one. Co-branded special packaging rounds out the visual offer.
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The Kenzo x Asics sneaker collab will first be introduced through a raffle on Monday, Jan. 22 at Kenzo.com. The sneaker range will then hit the floor in Kenzo stores and in a network of selected retailers from Friday, Jan 26.
This isn’t the first time Nigo has collaborated with another shoe brand during his tenure at Kenzo. In October, Kenzo and Hunter teamed up on a collection of high and mid-top shapes inspired by 1960s duck-hunting boots, available in a mix of rubber, suede and leather.
This news also comes just days after Nigo showed his fall/winter 2024 men’s collection for Kenzo during Paris Fashion Week Men’s.
At Friday’s show, Nigo introduced a new genderless sneaker founded in 1990s’ the skate codes and infused with an air of futurism. Constructed with a mesh-wrapped midsole, it is proposed in leather, suede or neoprene.
Other footwear standouts included the Kenzo Biker, a futuristic biker boot inspired by motocross; the Kenzo Yuki, a winter ankle boot in spotted ponyskin, and the Kenzo Ukio, a minimal lightweight boot set on sneaker sole. Plus, the new Kenzo Reia is a sharp-toed triangular kitten heel interpreted as fitted thigh-high suede boots, leather mules and stretch-fabric boots.
