Naruto, one of the most popular anime and manga franchises of all time, has always had a streetwear presence. After all, the protagonist's usually wearing a fancier version of a Nike tracksuit. So it made sense that Naruto would eventually join forces with a sportswear company for a sneaker collab and Japanese company ASICS appropriately took on the task with its 2022 Naruto collection.
I’m glad that ASICS' initial Naruto collab paid attention to the show’s secondary characters, like Kakashi and Itachi. The original 2022 drop really felt like a fan designed it.
But you may remember how that original ASICS collection didn’t actually have a pair of shoes for Naruto Uzumaki, the titular character. Finally, ASICS' latest Naruto collab sets things straight with a shoe worthy of Naruto himself.
Early photos of the alleged Naruto x ASICS GEL-NYC shoe, which turned out to be legit, really underscored how surprising it was that it took ASICS this long to make a sneaker using the classic bright orange and black color scheme of Naruto Uzumaki himself.
Orange is actually used quite tastefully, making what could've been a cheap sportswear team-up look like the sophisticated ASICS sneaker collab that Naruto deserves.
The early blurry image of ASICS' latest Naruto shoe also proved accurate regarding the Uzumaki clan’s iconic spiral motif, which is prominently featured on the collaborative shoe's tongue and lace dubrae.
Naruto x ASICS’ “Final Arc” shoe releases on November 5 during Paris Games Week. Attendees can snag one of 500 available pairs on the spot or try their hand at winning one pair a day. A wider release comes December 11 via French sneaker retailer Courir's website.
The mastermind behind the shoes’ designs is Sebastien Abdelhamid, French TV host. He seems to favor ASICS’ GEL sneaker line, having previously given the GEL-1130 shoe the Itachi and Sasuke treatment, and remixed the GEL-LYTE III for Kakashi.
Each shoe took the standard approach of pulling from each Naruto character’s colors with a lot of little Easter eggs that call back to their roots, like Sasuke’s Sharingan on the tongue.
The only downside of the new Naruto x ASICS Final Arc shoes is that they're a single-shoe deal, apparently.
Would've been nice to see a similarly tricked-out techy dad shoe that showed just as much love to the cold and mysterious Gaara or perhaps a pink-tinged Y2K running sneaker for Sakura.
I’m glad I’ve lived long enough to see anime merch go from screen printed tees at Hot Topic to full-blown sneaker collaborations. If I could tell my younger self that anime would be seen as cool, I’d have saved that Naruto backpack from middle school.
