GREATEST: Shigeyuki Mitsui

I am part of the team called Future Creation Box at ASICS Institute of Sport Science and am in charge of innovation development. My role is to analyze societal trends even through to the year 2050 and create products and services that we think will be needed in the near future.

When I was a student at the University of the Arts in Tokyo, I belonged to both the tennis and jazz band clubs. I thought that I’d like to live a fun life in the future involving art, sports and music. I looked into working with a Japanese sporting goods manufacturer and then learned that the founder of ASICS had dreamed of creating a brand that would give hope through sports to children who had suffered from the war. I decided I wanted to design products for a brand with such a wonderful founding principle.

I was not thinking about working in footwear in particular, but ASICS’ base for developing its products is in Kobe, Japan. My female friends in Tokyo loved Kobe, and they told me that they would come and hang out with me if I was there. That’s why I decided to go!

Many of the GEL-LYTE III collaborations were created with the involvement of younger designers from both within and outside the brand and they express different personalities. It’s hard for me to tell which ones are the best. However, the [ASICS] collaboration with Mita Sneakers that recently released was a joint project between myself and Mita Sneakers’ Creative Director Shigeyuki Kunii. Kunii-san’s creativity is exceptional, and we were able to express Japan’s sneaker culture with sensitivity and in an interesting manner. We also had a strong preference for the tricolor scheme and selected traditional Japanese colors associated with “Asakusa,” the base for Mita Sneakers. This collaboration was a really fun project for me. 

The GEL-LYTE III is like a “daughter” to me. There is a term in Japanese: “a girl kept in a box,” which is a metaphor for girls being raised with great care. I think the GEL-LYTE III that I originally created was an ‘ordinary’ girl, but then with the help of wonderful designers and producers, she became a star. Also, a sneakerhead who wears the GEL-LYTE III is like my daughter’s boyfriend. If he feels great when wearing the GEL-LYTE III then that means my daughter is also pleased. 

This may actually happen, so I will not talk at length about this. But if I am involved in such a project, I would like to design something like a new son while appreciating the daughter that is already being loved by so many consumers. If this really does come to fruition, it may be my ‘graduation’ project from ASICS. It would be a piece I would work on with younger designers. Something to leave to the next generation; my ‘swan song’ if you will.

Colors are important because each one is significant. People’s moods are lifted, eased or made more comfortable depending on color. When I designed the GEL-LYTE III, it was a time of transition from fluorescent colors to dull colors, so I wanted to use medium fluorescent colors for the accents. But there were no appropriate colors available then, so I had to mix the colors I wanted with paint, which I applied to paper to create my own color samples and then placed an order to the factory. That was how I created the GEL-LYTE III’s “OG” colorway. 

In terms of design, I wanted to put something in that spot as a cosmetic accent. In terms of function, I wanted to use a material that reflects automobile headlights at night from both the front and side. With the GEL-LYTE I and GEL-LYTE II, we used a teardrop shape that was easy to stitch. But with the GEL-LYTE III, we switched to two ‘leaning diamond’ shapes to match the style of the entire shoe with a sense of speed. Making one window with a large piece means that the flow of the form is lost when the shape is pulled during the assembly process, so we used two small windows. 

When I saw German luxury cars at an auto show, I noticed that when viewed from the slanting back end, the lines appeared to be absolutely perfect. I wanted to express the perfection of that styling with the GEL-LYTE III. If you take a look at the shoe from the angled rear, I paid particular attention to the design of the external heel counter in order to achieve this. Doing this and determining the flow of the lines in each part produced its symmetrical shape.

I believe there are two areas where the placement of the GEL is crucial in running shoes. The two areas are: right below the heel bone and along the outer heel where it impacts the ground.The GEL-LYTE III has our GEL inside, in the midsole under the heel bone. This part needs to be flexible, so it was designed so that the most flexible layer of the triple-density midsole is there.

I want to create shoes that mash up the good parts of both Japanese ideas and Western ideas. Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I think there was a way of thinking that divided these two outlooks. At that time, I thought ‘global’ meant ‘Western,’ but now—in terms of markets—there’s China, India and South America, which have all grown quickly. Social media has conquered the notion of remoteness and the world has truly become a global market. Even among the Japanese, there are more people with ways of thinking that’s not constrained by form, while there are more Westerners who apply Eastern concepts to their own creations. But I do not think that people’s thoughts will become commoditized or mass-produced. I believe that soon, thoughts and cultures from around the world will be mashed up and unique things will emerge from that.  

In my view, there are three elements that dwell in the form of the shoe: form (shape), performance and aesthetics (detail treatment). From all three, I think the most important element is form. 

A good form—that is, a good “last”—means better shoe styling. The fit will also improve. Conversely, bad form constrains the overall shoe’s potential for perfection, no matter how much high-performance material is added or how much attention to detail there is. If the question is asking which is more important, appearance or performance, then I would have to say that both are equally as important. For example: when creating a shoe for a particular objective, a researcher comes up with high-performance to achieve that objective. But that performance can be expressed either with style or without style. In my view, it’s the designer’s role to express function with cool style. 

I call evoking a sense of style “cultural function.” No matter how superior the function, no one wants to wear an unattractive shoe, right? On the other hand, no matter how stylish, nobody would wear a shoe that is uncomfortable or that performs poorly. Also, in my experience, sharpening performance often results in a better appearance. But the point that a shoe designer must consider above all is that the foot is always the lead actor, and the shoe plays a supporting role. Sometimes I see designs where the shoe is the lead actor and the design is merely ornamental. I don’t design like that. Also, a shoe cannot be only a supporting character. It should play an excellent supporting role in complementing the wearer’s physique. 

Before it was the maker that created trends, but now the consumer creates trends. In the past, many people wore the same shoe, the same brand... Some people wore the shoe because they really liked it while others probably look back [today] and wonder why they wore that. In the future, I think consumers will follow mass trends less and less. These days, consumers are linked to a niche group of peers who share the same tastes, as well as with anyone around the world. So now consumers communicate information, and that sparks trends. In that way, I believe it is the role of the creator to create opportunities for consumers to stand out.