Asics Wmns Novablast 3 'Black Soft Sky'
Colorway: Black/Soft Sky · Style code: 1012B288-002 · Release date: September 2022 · Price: $1026 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Asics Wmns Novablast 3 'Black Sheet Rock' (1012B288-001) · Asics Wmns Novablast 3 'Black Dusty Purple' (1012B288-003) · Asics Wmns Novablast 3 'Metropolis Violet Peach' (1012B288-020) · Asics Wmns Novablast 3 'Piedmont Grey Blue Violet' (1012B288-021) · Asics Wmns Novablast 3 'White Dive Blue' (1012B288-100)
The Novablast 3 is the generation where ASICS traded some of the line's wobble for control. The midsole moved from FlyteFoam Blast to FF Blast+, a foam the brand rates roughly twenty percent softer and twenty percent more responsive, and the platform was flared outward so the footprint is wider at the ground. The deep sidewall scoops that gave the first two Novablasts their springboard feel were toned down, which cut the lean-in wobble testers had flagged on the previous model without flattening the ride.
The weight went with it. Reviewers measured the shoe around an ounce lighter than the Novablast 2, helped by a monofilament jacquard mesh upper, a thinner tongue and less rubber on the outsole. The result is a neutral daily trainer that can be run slow or picked up, rather than a foam toy.
This women's colourway is the quiet one in the range: a black upper with Soft Sky picking out the branding and trim, which keeps the tall midsole from reading as bulky.