It's crazy to realize that X-Men celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. Oh, how the time flies when six decades of super mutants are involved.
In celebration of the Jack Kirby and Stan Lee-created franchise's milestone birthday, Marvel tapped Ronnie Fieg's KITH, who then tapped ASICS, to devise a special delivery of collaborative ASICS GEL-LYTE III sneakers inspired by X-Men's most iconic characters: Beast, Cyclops, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, and Wolverine. It had to be Wolverine!
While the KITH x ASICS GEL-LYTE IIIs all come with the traditional leather formstripe and divided tongue concepts typical of the running sneaker, the seven-shoe collection boasts varying fabrications and schemes based on the X-Men team's signature looks.
For instance, the Beast-themed GEL-LYTE IIIs receive a blue hairy suede upper, referencing the mutant's distinct blue fur. On the other hand, the green and yellow iteration draws cues from Rogue's uniform, with the vibrant hues blanketing the upper's leather and suede paneling.
You could also say that the white sole is a perfect nod to the birth-given white streaks in her hair. How's that for thoughtful, eh?
Lucky for Wolverine fans, the legendary character gets two KITH x ASICS sneaker colorways in his honor, one based on his early 1975 suit (blue, yellow, and black) and the other inspired by his 1980 get-up (yellow, brown, and red).
But that's not all. KITH's X-Men ASICS GEL-LYTE IIIs all arrive in collaborative blind packaging sealed in a collectible shoe box.
Basically, fans won't know which shoe they copped until they take it out of the pack. This is all very reminiscent of opening trading card packs in hopes of getting a rare pull...
Hey, what do you know!
KITH actually cooked up some accompanying trading cards, essentially recreations of the OG 1992 Uncanny X-Men Series 1 but now with Marvel and KITH logos and dual KITH and PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) co-branding. Just a little something to make this collaboration that much more special.
But the real crown jewel is a special X-Men comic released exclusively to KITH friends and family. Maybe not a big deal to sneakerheads but for the comic die-hards? This is possibly an even bigger grail than the sneakers themselves.
And in true comic fashion, KITH and ASICS' X-Men collection will be up for grabs at San Diego's Comic Con (July 19 through 23). A separate release will also go down on the KITH website and select KITH flagship stores on July 28.
Don't sleep: with three big names coming together for a footwear collection, hype and quick sellouts are guaranteed to follow.
KITH and ASICS continue to make waves on the fashion side (sometimes cooking up heat together), while Marvel remains king of the box office, with its recent Guardians of the Galaxy sequel and Spiderverse film (a Sony co-production) raking in boucoup bucks.
