Asics Wmns Gel Kinsei Blast LE 'Clear Blue'
Colorway: Clear Blue/Black · Style code: 1012B178-401 · Release date: April 29, 2022 · Price: $2682 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Asics Wmns Gel Kinsei Blast LE 'Deep Plum Barely Rose' (1012B178-500) · Asics Wmns Gel Kinsei OG 'White' (1022A111-100) · Asics Wmns Gel Kinsei Max 'Oatmeal White' (1012B512-250) · Asics Wmns Gel Kinsei OG 'Pure Gold' (1022A111-200) · Asics Wmns Gel Kinsei Max 'Light Sapphire' (1012B512-401)
For a stretch of the mid-2000s the Gel-Kinsei was the most expensive running shoe on the market, and it carried more GEL than anything else the brand made. That was the whole proposition: everything ASICS knew about cushioning stacked into one shoe, priced accordingly.
The Blast is a full redesign that inherits the ambition rather than the parts. A Pebax plate runs the length of the midsole, sandwiched between FF Blast Plus foam and GEL, and it is stiff enough to change how the shoe rolls through a stride. ASICS has said the midsole profile draws on the curve of a katana and the upper on samurai armour, protective without restricting movement.
Testers have generally placed it as a heavy, high-mileage daily trainer rather than a fast one, closer in character to the maximalist and plated shoes it launched among than to its own ancestors.
This limited edition takes clear blue over black, and it released at the end of April 2022.