Writing Sample
ASICS DESIGN EVOLUTION
AUTUMN / WINTER 2017
POSITIONING & VISION
Our ASICS DNA lies within our company philosophy of Sound Mind, Sound Body. There is a certain level of trust in ASICS which addresses an athlete’s needs through the total commitment and understanding of sports. From the role that sports has with people all over the world, ASICS strives to bring health and happiness to them and now is an opportunity to bring sports to a new generation.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Fully functional gear with exceptional reliability and durability has always been a part of our ASICS DNA. We continue to strive to create products that are focused on the functional movements of humans.
The ASICS apparel is tailored to fit with a new generation of fitness consumers. Creating apparel that fits into this new generation's lifestyle through sports fashion, while maintaining our ASICS function and quality as our main goal.
QUALITY & CRAFTSMANSHIP
Our consumer expects our products to have a premium quality and feel, and through ASICS’ Japanese craftsmanship and materials, the uniqueness and quality that comes from our footwear extends to our apparel line. Our products are crafted with an acute attention to detail while being aware of how this new generation moves through their life.
When selecting fabrics, the most important part is how it feels next to the skin. We selected fabrics that have a sophisticated handfeel that exudes a sleek urban style. They were also selected to be highly functional with stretch, breathability, and water resistant properties.
ASICS has a legacy of creating products that are expertly crafted to perform with unparalleled functionality. This is our opportunity to continue that expression with our apparel. Our techniques are inspired by Japanese craftsmanship: minimalism and the attention to detail.
Everything from our seaming to the details of where and how we place zippers and pockets are put into great consideration. Every aspect, every detail of our product has been put through evaluation and critiqued based on now a body moves in sport.
Colors, or the absence of color, was a deliberate path that we took to bring out the image of a futuristic and highly refined yet versatile urban technical apparel. There is also a strong emphasis in showcasing the collection’s radical silhouette and the collection's color palette really highlights these new innovative forms.
DESIGN MUSE
When designing, we set out to solve the needs of a specific consumer. Comfort and style are ranked as some of the top priorities when shopping for new products. While insights show that 44 percent of apparel used for fitness is non-athletic apparel. This collection was build on the foundation that style, comfort and performance are held at the highest priority. In this case, we wanted to address the new generation of fitness consumers whose needs are for versatile products that moves with their lifestyle in and out of sport.
The new collection was inspired by our Japanese origins and identity, introducing the sports world to Japanese craftsmanship, style and design. We wanted to emphasize and introduce to consumers what really drives our ASICS philosophy and inspirations. Japan's technology and culture was something that we wanted to communicate through this visual expression of sport.
CULTURAL IMPORTANCE
The city of Tokyo is an always changing, highly unique, and technologically forward city, that still maintains a strong cultural identity. The characteristics of this city pushes oneself to keep moving forward to work with innovation and sophistication.
Refinement, balance, and purpose are prevalent themes of our culture. When we set out to create this collection, we felt that these ideals were an integral part of creating a successful product
TRUE SPORTS PERFORMANCE
There is a massive shift in the market to create sportswear that can be used within everyday life. We wanted to address this and feel that now is an appropriate time to introduce a collection that really pushes a sports fashion aesthetic, yet maintains our strong functional and performance identity. With all eyes on Japan as 2020 approaches, we want to introduce the world to the most beautiful part of Japanese culture: Where traditionalism and futurism meet.
We set out to create products that serve a specific purpose in the best possible way. This new collection was the result of combining street-inspired looks with the strong innovation and functionality that makes ASICS such a respected brand in the sports world. We want to continue that message for this new generation.
True performance means successfully fulfilling a purpose in all aspects, and addressing consumer needs. This new collection is a way to show that we are providing capable products every step of the way. This collection is positioned where sports meets style: sports fashion.
DESIGN DETAILS
ASICS already uses the spiral on many items of apparel and footwear without using the full ASICS logo.
We felt that ASICS has a strong enough name and moving into an iconic brand presence. This is the next step in strengthening our identity.
We have split our lines into two distinct logos. The spiral is dedicated for highly specific performance wear for our athletes, while the hexagon+spiral is dedicated for cross-category performance with highly adaptable apparel. The hexagon+spiral allows for us to use interesting graphics and still have the logo pop.
ASICS uses a hexagon to highlight the six points that make up our creative design ethos: Color, construction, silhouette, material, graphics, and function. The hexagon on our apparel is an indication that great though and creativity went into this design.
In Japanese aesthetics, less is more. By redesigning our apparel to feature a minimalistic design, this includes our logo usage. This is a portrait of an understated elegance, along with sophisticated refinement for our everyday apparel which aligns with this new generation many needs.
The line on the back of our apparel symbolizes the ASICS DNA that is a part of all our products. Our DNA is defined by our design identity and creative mindset that was introduced from our AW17 creative direction. (Mindset: original, innovation, proactive, authentic, intuitive, enthusiasm. Creative elements: Color, construction, silhouette, material, graphics, and function).
Our backline is not only visually striking, but is the union of aesthetics and body-mapped research. Integrating functional designs such as stretch ventilation and reflective touches along the back line to support sweat management and increased movement makes complete design and functional sense.
NEW DESIGN DURATION
We plan to take these design details and integrate it as part of our own by consistently incorporating it into our apparel. The intention is to make this a standard across all of our apparel products.
As the sports apparel market becomes more competitive, we want to differentiate our products with strong brand identity through design and engineering. Our ASICS DNA pushes our products to take into account all the qualities of successful design and combine this ethos into a new chapter of ASICS apparel.
CATEGORY SPECIFIC DESIGN
All of our product owns a shared vision: style and function. Through this design direction, we are elevating all of our apparel to a premium standard. These same core values of optimal performance and style branch into category specific needs. We set out to create a strong visual identity that ties all our collections together, but then we can also address those specific needs for compression and recovery wear, etc. First introduced through the running category with the MMS tights and Zero Distraction Bra, these types of technologies will continue to spread into other categories.
FUTURE INNOVATIONS
Our aim is to create new innovations that fit consumer needs and supports our brand DNA. We are working closely with ASICS Institute of Sport Science to address specific needs and push the boundaries of our consumer for each sports category and lifestyle.
The implementation of an innovative compression and support systems used in the Rio Olympics will expand across categories to match the specific needs of our athletes. This new innovation program can be specifically tailored to meet the needs for all sports and will provide scientifically proven performance boosts.
ASSOCIATED PROJECTS