Asics Gel-Kayano Trainer 'Summer Pack'
Colorway: Purple/Atomic Blue · Style code: H5E2Y-3338 · Price: $2832 · Availability: Available now
The GEL-Kayano Trainer is where the whole Kayano series starts. ASICS put Toshikazu Kayano on the job of building a long-distance runner that could also serve as an all-purpose trainer, and the shoe that resulted in 1993 carried his name. Its form drew on the stag beetle, which accounts for the split, segmented look of the original upper.
What began as a serious running shoe has spent the last decade as something else. From the mid-2010s the Trainer found an audience well outside running, both in its original form and in variants such as the Evo, and the line has been maintained as a lifestyle silhouette ever since. The performance Kayano continued on its own track, reaching its thirties as the ASICS flagship stability model.
This purple summer execution belongs to the lifestyle side of that split. At $120 it is priced as a casual shoe rather than a trainer, which is an accurate reflection of what it is now used for.