A photographer at the 2025 Critics Choice Awards thought they were saving Kate Hudson from a major wardrobe malfunction: The tag on her sculptural gray gown was out. “It’s supposed to do that,” Hudson answered in the viral video. “It’s Thom Browne.” Now, the brand’s red, white, and blue label is in the spotlight again: Not on the back of a celebrity’s award season gown, but a new Asics sneaker.
Word spread of Thom Browne’s first sneaker collaboration with Asics at the GQ Bowl, held over Super Bowl LX weekend. The New York label’s sneaker-forward Fall 2026 runway show was steep competition for the football game. Browne mixed in the reimagined $450 Gel-Kayano 14s with the rest of his Fall 2026 designs: a sporty shift from his storied Oxfords and lace-up boots.
Turns out, Browne’s years as a varsity swimmer and long-distance runner inspired the debut. The nostalgically chunky sneakers—especially in fresh-off-the-runway gray—would’ve complemented any varsity uniform back in the day.
Alma + Manon’s corresponding campaign captured the Thom Browne x Asics sneakers in a Parisian office.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Thom Browne)
That’s not to say the Thom Browne x Asics don’t complement today’s sneaker-led trend cycle, too. First released as a high-performance running shoe in 2008, Japanese designer Toshikazu Kayano relaunched the Gel-Kayano 14s as a lifestyle sneaker in 2020. The once-$135 style never struggled with becoming a best-seller, but the decade’s affinity for Y2K-inspired silhouettes slingshotted it to It-sneaker status. Now-$160 Gel-Kayano 14s are the quintessential “dad” shoe, and not just for father figures. Everyone from Hailey Bieber and Kaia Gerber to Reese Witherspoon and Tracee Ellis Ross remains loyal to their mesh uppers, inlaid sidewall curvatures, and pumped-up gel soles.
Less than two years ago, Hailey Bieber styled her non-Thom Browne Asics Gel-Kayano 14 sneakers in L.A.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Thom Browne took what makes Gel-Kayano 14s Asics and added “a more sophisticated contrast to the model’s performance-driven origins,” according to a press release. The sneakers come in signature Thom Browne neutrals, including gray, black, and white. Genuine suede assembles the two former colors, while real leather bookends the white version’s matching mesh.
Gel-Kayano 14s of yesteryear were known for their early aughts-esque color combinations. This time, Asics reserved the brand’s vibrancy for red, white, and blue lace catchers, which mirror the intentional tags atop each heel. External tags were a Thom Browne-led initiative, having never decorated Asics sneakers before. (It seems his label’s trainers inspired the embellishment—every model, no matter its function, boasts the same stripes.) The patriotic trio returns to line the inside of each Asics x Thom Browne shoe, too.
A moment for Thom Browne’s tags, please.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Thom Browne)
Similar to Thom Browne (who’s collaborated with Moncler, Brooks Brothers, and even Nordstrom), Asics is no stranger to absorbing another brand’s house codes. Vivienne Westwood, Comme des Garçons, Awake NY, and Kith all sculpted Asics sneakers from their brand’s aesthetic—the most recent partnership with Kiko Kostadinov Studio dropped the first week of February. In Sept. 2024, Copenhagen Fashion Week treasure Cecilie Bahnsen dropped her second collaboration with Asics, her “most unisex,” she told Marie Claire. Bahnsen x Asics Gel-Terrain sneakers—in black, red, and brown—are hot ticket items on the resale market to this day.
If it wasn’t public knowledge before, Thom Browne x Asics sneakers will ensure no one mistakes the designer’s tag as a malfunction again. Gray and black Gel-Kayano 14s are shoppable right now, but if they’re anything like Bahnsen’s Asics, they’ll be collector’s items soon enough.
Should the first two colors sell out before you place an order, don’t fret: The white edition will launch in the coming weeks. Kate Hudson should secure a pair, just for kicks.