The NATURE BATHING™ PACK offers a calming sensation from door to trail. The collection brings together some of the running community’s favourite ASICS silhouettes, including the GEL-NIMBUS™ 25 shoe, each rendered in calming neutral hues that mirror tones commonly found in nature.
To further evoke the great outdoors through its design, the shoes in the NATURE BATHING™ PACK have contrasting two-tone lacing, heel taping and sockliners, with the sockliners also featuring the Japanese kanji characters for “tree” and “forest”.
Source: ASICS –“shinrin-yoku” the Nature Bathing Pack
ASICS creates some of the best running shoes in the sneaker industry. They are often delivered with interesting concepts like this Shinrin-Yoku pack, but what is interesting is how these general release projects are overlooked by sneaker culture. It’s a conundrum for a brand.
- Should an effort be made to deliver everyday product with a narrative and color concept, or should storytelling be relegated to limited release sneakers?
- Do collabs drive interest in the brand or the collaborator?
The most popular sneakers from ASICS are their running sneakers. However, when an article is shared about an ASICS drop by sneaker media, the most popular sneakers tend to be retros affiliated with a brand like KITH and Ronnie Fieg. These limited release products offer ASICS a chance to be introduced to a new demographic… or is this not quite true? Are buyers picking up an ASICS x KITH pair fans of the brand or simply fans of the hype surrounding a limited release? Do those wearers of a Kith collab convert to buyers of general release kicks like the Shinrin Yoku Pack?
A quick dive into the data shows sneakers by ASICS under the keywords “ASICS+KITH+Mens Athletic” over the course of this year with sales of:
- $277.02 Avg sold price
- 1,538 Total sold
- 1,060 Total sellers
- $426,056.76 Total item sales
- $58.80 Avg sold price
- 8,002 Total sold
- 1,335 Total sellers
- $470,517.60 Total item sales
This data derives from resale information on eBay. It offers an opportunity to create a hypothesis about just how beneficial collaborative efforts are in driving brand recognition and brand conversion. 1500+ sales took place on Kith related products. The sales are almost equal to 8,000 pair of ASICS sold. The average sold price on non-retro/collab products is below retail in third party sales. While the collab has prices way over the retail price of any sneaker listed in the Shinrin-Yoku pack, ASICS doesn’t benefit from that extra revenue. If you had to make a decision for the brand to create a new collection, would you make a general release run of footwear or a series of limited collaborative efforts?
