ASICS x Studio HAGEL: A New Era For Sneakers?
If you call yourself a sneakerhead, you’ll know about Studio HAGEL. From Off-White to Ecco, from Moon Boot to Valentino, the Amsterdam-based studio has been crafting avant-garde footwear creations since 2015. Now, ASICS — a brand notoriously protective over their creative process — are weighing in. Be ready: this could be one of the most technologically innovative sneaker collabs we’ve seen in a long time.
The new ASICS NEOCURVE, the result of the HAGEL collab, is made from grinded-up footwear, deadstock, and defective shoes. To bring their sustainable vision to life, the brand partnered with Fast Feet Grinded, a Dutch shoe recycling company, and every step of the manufacturing process is based in Europe to reduce the NEOCURVE’s carbon footprint. Yet this doesn’t feel anything like a fugly ‘eco-sneaker.’ It is, quite simply — and even disregarding its green credentials — just cool.
Why? Well, design-wise, ASICS had a little recycling session too. The team at HAGEL were allowed full access to the Japanese brand’s archives, picking and choosing design elements from ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s sneakers that appealed to their very personal interests. The result is a feeling of completion, of balance. The NEOCURVE is low-profile, but the curved sole gives it a bit of spritely bounce. It’s sleek, but detailed finishes all around lend it a techy, futuristic feel. It’s dark, but metallic touches on the tongue and logo let it shine just a little. Truly, this is as poised in design as it is circular in assembly.
For ASICS, and for sneakers in general, the NEOCURVE is a huge step. The sporting giant used an entirely new production line for the making of their new shoe — managing that, alongside unprecedented materials, was a painstaking process. The hope is that this intense investment of time, energy, and money now will leave a legacy which outlives this single sneaker — as if that wasn’t enough. As the brand’s tagline for the sneaker goes, this really isn’t “total rubbish”. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
You can shop the NEOCURVE on ASICS' website here.
