Asics: Behind the Collaboration

With this year's release of the Tennis Warehouse Exclusive Stone Gold SA and Grapefruit Solution Speed FFs, we wanted to take a look back at all of the exclusive Asics shoes we've collaborated on since 2012. Throughout our time working together, Asics has been open to trying new things and has asked for our feedback not only about shoe performance, but also about what our customers look for in shoe aesthetics. Our partnership with Asics has been really gratifying, and we think it has given our customers a chance to own some unique shoes. See our list of Asics exclusives below, and be sure to enter our contest for a chance to help design next year's exclusive Asics shoe.

Year released: 2019

This concept really started with the idea of incorporating metallics into the shoe. We created some designs around the metallic theme, along with a few other one-off ideas, and we sent Asics our ideas. The team responded with a drawing that combined a few of the ideas we had worked up. The resulting shoe not only featured metallics, but also drew inspiration from both raw and finished materials. The design got its name from a Tennis Warehouse employee who also happens to be a WWE fan. The shoe is "strong" and "raw" with stone and gold colors, gaining it the nickname "Stone Gold Steve Austin." The nickname stuck, and you have the Stone/Gold S.A.

Year released: 2019

This women’s shoe design was less involved on our end. We still wanted to include metallics, but it was more about finding colors that worked well together. Asics sent us some designs that featured a light pink and navy, and those colors resonated well with the women on our team. Asics then created a sample of the design, and it was that simple. We had our design, and we couldn’t be happier with it!

In 2017, we started with the idea of creating a men’s design that was predominately dark in color, and dark navy emerged as an early favorite. For women, we flipped the idea and instead opted for a bright colorway. It was at that point the Solstice theme came to mind. The men's dark theme invoked Winter Solstice, and the women's bright design represented Summer Solstice. With a theme now in place, we started working on the details.

Year released: 2018

For the Summer Solstice shoe, we drew a lot of inspiration from the classic "Endless Summer" poster. The combination of colors and the sun in the background screamed summertime. Working off our theme, Asics created a unique upper that featured a color gradient and line drawings that had a wave-like feel. Much like the "perfect waves" found off the coast of Africa in "Endless Summer," we felt we had the "perfect shoe" and were going to ride this one into the sunset.

Year released: 2017

For the Winter Solstice design, we wanted a balanced look that stretched past the everyday, run-of-the-mill colorway but still maintained a somewhat reserved style. We put together a storyboard of winter tones that explained our theme, and we sent our ideas to Asics. The designers came back with an upper that replicated an ominous stormy sky and a midsole with speckles to mimic a starry night. Not only did this design become a popular choice among the men, but we also saw a few of them on ATP Tour players.

Year released: 2016

As 2016 was both an Olympic year and election year, our minds turned to "Americana." We wanted to do something red, white and blue, but at the same time we wanted to capture the competitive spirit of the Olympics. By incorporating gold, the ultimate goal of an Olympic athlete, we thought we could capture that energy. We gave the Asics team our concepts and colors, and the design team got to work creating samples and making adjustments. For the final product, we called the shoe AU79 after gold's periodic table symbol and atomic number.

Year released: 2016

We didn't necessarily have a concept for this shoe. Asics gave us some designs that were trending at the time, and the bullseye look was among them. We found the colors compelling and liked the design, so we pulled the trigger and made it our women's exclusive. It perhaps was a little reminiscent of a certain store's logo, but it also reminded us of "Austin Powers" and the 1960s. When it came to a commercial for the Groove model, we leaned into the shoe's '60s inspiration for the graphics and music. Far out!

Year released: 2015

This was by far the most-involved collaboration from start to finish. We really started from scratch in every aspect of the shoe, from the theme, to inspiration, to colors, to materials, to packaging — we explored it all. It began with, "We should use camo," and it turned into the "Stealth" theme. We felt if James Bond played tennis, this would be the shoe he would wear. Between figuring out how much camo to use and which shades of color, there was a lot of back and forth with the creative team at Asics. Not to mention what was logistically feasible and what wasn’t. When it came to the outsole, we pushed for a translucent compound to tie into the Stealth theme, but due to concerns about the perception of durability, we ended up going with the black outsole that you see on the final design.

Year released: 2014

The shoe that became Bubblegum was already an existing sample Asics had produced. Coincidentally, we were at Asics trying to draw inspiration from other categories for our next exclusive when we saw the sample. Asics wasn't sure what to do with the design and asked for our thoughts. We immediately looked at each other and said, "Well, I think we just found our shoe." Asics agreed to make the design our next exclusive, and the women's Gel Solution Speed 2 Bubblegum was born. For the commercial we worked up a fun animated spot, but the detail we still really like is the pink-and-blue tennis court featured at the end. If you've spent any time on California's Central Coast you'll probably recognize it as the iconic pink court at San Luis Obispo's Madonna Inn.

Year released: 2012

The idea of doing an exclusive design with Asics first came about in 2012. At the time Asics had a very popular running shoe called Noosa known for its bright colorways. That shoe served as the jumping off point for our first TW exclusive Asics tennis shoe. Drawing inspiration from the Noosa, we created a men’s and women’s Gel Resolution 4 that featured loud, vibrant colors. The shoes sold well, and the collaboration took off. This was the lightning we have since tried to bottle.

Note: Legend has it that pop-star Cher purchased a pair in 2012!