Asics Gel Contend 8 4E Wide 'Black Red'
Colorway: Black/Graphite Grey · Style code: 1011B679-001 · Release date: June 2023 · Price: $2682 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Asics Gel Contend 8 'Waterscape' (1011B492-409) · Asics Gel Contend 8 'French Blue' (1011B492-410) · Asics Gel Contend 8 'Rain Forest' (1011B492-300) · Asics Gel Contend 8 'Azure Amber' (1011B492-400) · Asics Gel Contend 8 'Indigo Blue' (1011B492-403)
Extra-wide fittings tend to be the first thing cut from a budget shoe, which makes a 4E version of a seventy-dollar trainer worth noting. ASICS builds the Contend in that width, and it is often the cheapest genuinely wide running shoe on a shop wall. The eighth version runs an improved AmpliFoam midsole (more flexible and softer than before, comfortable straight out of the box) with GEL under the heel for landings. Testers measured the foam as slightly firmer than the category average, which reads as supportive for a few miles and fatiguing past that. That matches the target buyer: a new runner, or someone who wants one pair for the gym, walking and the occasional run. Against the Excite, its closest sibling, it trades a little softness for a thicker rubber outsole and a longer life. The black upper with grey does nothing to draw attention, which is the entire point.