Brand: ASICS
Model: GEL-KAYANO 14
Key Features: It’s hard to highlight one key feature on this silhouette as what makes it so striking is its technical running design revamped with metallic silver leather overlays, bright white mesh, hits of gold or red, and it GEL technology-infused sole.
Release Date: December 18
Price: €150/¢150
Buy: asics.com
Editor’s Notes: We already called 2020 as the year of running but now it’s confirmed thanks to the relaunch of ASICS’ GEL-KAYANO 14. The 2020 take on the noughties model was teased last month with the UB1-S drop and has now been released in two colorways.
Originally launched in 2008, the GEL-KAYANO 14 was the fourteenth model to release in ASICS’ long-running GEL-KAYANO series. What makes this particular model unique is that it was the first in the series to be created by a designer other than its namesake Toshikazu Kayano. Kayano passed the baton to Hidenori Yamashita, who was also responsible for the 2020 relaunch.
The inspiration for the sneaker was “flash”, Yamashita explains: “‘Flash’ for me references that burst of action where the runner lands at the heel and pushes away at the toes. Whether it’s the color, the lines, the materials, the silhouette, or the texture — all aspects of the GEL-KAYANO 14 are designed with that idea of 'flash' in mind.”
When it first released, the GEL-KAYANO 14 won the International Editor’s Choice prize in Runner’s World's annual awards. The model remains a favorite among runners but, as with previous GEL-KAYANO relaunches, the news of its revival has pricked up the ears of fashion and sneaker fans, too, thanks to its ultra-techy, retrofuturistic design.
