ASICS, which recently appointed NFL athlete Stefon Diggs as its newest ambassador, took to HBX's New York outpost in the Chinatown neighborhood to celebrate the partnership while showcasing the Japanese sportswear brand's all-new GT-2160 line. An initiative honoring the legacy of ASICS' GT-2000 line, the event brought guests back to the 1990s and 2000s, with campaign visuals starring Diggs decorating the space.
Diggs' collaboration with ASICS doesn't come as a huge surprise, as the NFL star has been a longtime fan of the brand. The athlete shared in an interview with Hypebeast, "When you’re from the DMV [District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia], you’re kind of always around ASICS... I’ve been rocking them casually for years — there’s that history with them from my hometown." He added, "Everyone’s always known about ASICS’ comfort and performance, but even when I was younger I saw them as a way to make a fashion statement that really fit into my lifestyle... My friends were roasting me, like 'that’s all you wear these days,' and I was like, 'Look — they’re comfortable and they look amazing. How are you gonna be mad?' Then they’d try a pair on for themselves and never take them off either."
Speaking on the ASICS slogan “Anima Sana In Corpore Sano,” which roughly translates to “a sound mind in a sound body," the athlete continued, "The mental aspect and the physical aspect are so closely connected. When I wake up in the morning and curate my outfit for the day, figure out how I want to look and how I want to feel, the 'sound mind' is a key part of that... You can’t have one without the other, so that saying really resonates with me."
The launch party, which was hosted by HBX New York on July 13, brought the New York community together as Diggs arrived with his friends, wearing a retro tracksuit embodying the legacy of the GT-2000 line. The crowd, including names like model Kristy Baez, stylist and fashion consultant Melissa Baklayan, fashion designer Edvin Thompson, founder of gallery and online marketplace Strada, Paul Hill and photographer Spencer Lloyd Blake, showed up in some of their favorite ASICS kicks — the new GT-2160s as well as the coveted Cecilie Bahnsen and Kiko Kostadinov collaborations, just to name a few — while enjoying a live DJ set by Marco Weibel.
"Our approach to collaborative partnerships is simple. We look to align with brands, retailers, and in this case, an athlete like Stefon Diggs, that have a unique point of view and individual narrative that ultimately has synergies with the ASICS brand voice and core values," Colin Brickley, Sales Director, Sportstyle at ASICS North America spoke of the partnership. "With each Sportstyle partnership we begin, it is truly exciting to see how each partner embraces the rich heritage of ASICS and how they choose to showcase some of our iconic models."
Take a closer look inside the ASICS installation at HBX New York and the launch event above.
HBX New York
41 Division Street
New York, NY
Tel: (332) 373-1151