nonnative & ASICS’ Trail Shoe Quietly & Beautifully Disguises Its Tech
ASICS’ GEL-TERRAIN sneaker, a trail shoe typically built with technical welding and no-sew elements, has been given extra outdoor functionality by humbly useful Japanese label nonnative. However, you wouldn’t know this by first looking at the brands’ collaborative sneaker.
Dressed in all-brown with supple suede overlays, the ASICS x nonnative Fall/Winter 2024 shoe collab has a more premium and lifestyle-oriented look than its standard techy, lightweight form.
But dig beneath its fuzzy textured exterior and you find GORE-TEX technology, giving the nonnative x ASICS GEL-TERRAIN GTX sneaker a level of weather-proofing not found on other GEL-TERRAIN models, all while being arguably the most beautiful dad shoe of its era.
Without going to the lengths of their previous collaboration, where nonnative and ASICS built far more wild GORE-TEX combat boots, the two brands developed a rugged outdoor shoe that's as beautiful as it is functional.
Alongside its weatherproof fabrication, further functional details on this shoe include innovations created by ASICS, such as FLYTEFOAM, a lighter and more cushioned proprietary foam than standard EVA midsoles, and its GEL™ Technology for advanced shock absorbency.
nonnative has made brown-colored, GORE-TEX footwear something of a specialty — working with brands as disparate as American outdoor brand Timberland to Japanese sportswear label Mizuno — and its latest addition to this genre of footwear, the GEL-TERRAIN GTX, arrives at nonnative's online shop come October 19.
Following a series of overly technical-looking GEL-TERRAIN trail shoe collaborations, nonnative delivers something a more classic-looking, suede rendition. And the result is, as usual, unbelievably excellent. If only nonnative was responsible for more than a couple sneaker collabs per year.
