ASICS Tarther RP 3 'Black Blue'
Colorway: Black/White · Style code: 1011B465-001 · Release date: January 5, 2023 · Price: $2682 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: ASICS Tarther RP 3 'White Diva Pink' (1011B465-100) · ASICS Tarther RP 3 'Deep Ocean' (1011B465-400) · Asics Tarther RP 3 'Blue Coast Black' (1011B465-401) · ASICS Tarther RP 3 'Illuminate Mint' (1011B465-403) · ASICS Tarther RP 3 'Illusion Blue' (1011B465-404)
The Tarther name goes back to the 1980s in Japan, where the shoe built its reputation among marathon runners and was often treated as an everything shoe: raced on Sunday, trained in the rest of the week. ASICS has developed the platform in small increments across generations rather than redesigning it, which is unusual for a racing line.
That heritage explains what the RP feels like. It is a low-stack shoe in an era of tall foam, with a flexible forefoot and an outsole laid out for forefoot contact. FlyteFoam Blast in the midsole adds rebound the original flats never had, but the shoe still asks the runner to do the work rather than doing it for them.
Elsewhere in the family sit the Tartheredge and the domestically produced Tarther Japan, which ASICS has used to mark the series anniversary. All of them share the same conviction: that a racing shoe should sit the foot close to the road.