The ASICS GEL LYTE III has been in the spotlight for kick ass collaborations with some of streetwear’s finest brands, making it one of the most famous and iconic sneaker silhouettes of the last two decades. With that much heat and respect for the sneaker within the streetwear industry, we were honored to meet with Shigeyuki Mitsui – the creator and designer of the GEL LYTE IIIs himself, for a little history lesson on his legendary creation.

Time of conception…

It was either 1988 or 1989. It’s been more than 20 years now.

An introduction to the GEL LYTE III…

At the time, my intention was to create the ultimate performance running shoe, with the highest level of technology and function. My design concept was to have a high grade performance function, but to make it visually pleasing unlike existing running shoes at the time. I created my own technique of drawing, and the factories had to create an entirely new mould. During that era, most brands were going for simple designs – geometrical designs, and I didn’t like those shapes.

Split tongue…

When you wear a general shoe, the normal tongue will shift to the side during wear because of the foot shape – it really isn’t a good fit. So what I did was to split the tongue and connect it to the lining so that it doesn’t move, hence making the entire shoe more fitting. The second reason is that when we normally try to slip on our shoes, we have to first pull the tongue up before inserting our foot in; but with the split tongue, you could you just slip on the shoe without even having to bend over to pull up the tongue so it’s really simple and easy (Mitsui then goes on to demonstrate how easy it was to simply just slip on the Gel Lyte III). So it’s high performance and easy to wear.

Triple density midsole…

Another unique feature of the GEL LYTE III is the low to high density mid sole that I designed. Asics has already had the 2-density midsole, but just 2 portions of density is just isn’t enough. The change from a soft to a hard density was too drastic. So a middle range of density was needed to make this transition more natural. Also the placement of the three different densities needed to be at a certain angle to help distribute and guide the pressure and weight of a person correctly. They gave up on continuing it on other models because quality control of this heel piece was too difficult. Because of the nature of foaming material, the sensitivity of getting all three different densities right was tough to control. It wouldn’t be that difficult with the technology we have now, but it was different twenty years ago. Many factories that made GEL LYTE IIIs used to complain and told me never to make such a feature again! But I believe it’s a really good structure.

Current demand…

Since it’s release twenty years ago, there definitely has been less people using the model for performance. They’ve moved on to the GT 2 and GT 3 – these are really high performance models. Everyone uses the GEL LYTE III for fashion aesthetic now.

Hexagonal eyelets…

Plastic eyelets are really detailed. The hexagonal shape allows for flexibility in directional movement of the laces. I also designed the eyelets to be oval, which at the time was completely different from everyone else, who were doing round eyelets (for round laces).

3M cage…

The design was inspired by a Prison. I wanted to do something out of the ordinary and make the 3M ‘GEL’ logo on the heel section look as though it was behind bars.

Heel counter…

Back then, most heel counters were shaped in a standard way. I decided that I wanted a different shape on the heel counter (where it dips in the middle). It helps make the shoe alot more stable.

Materials…

The original GEL LYTE III release used suede. The suede was made in Japan, and the quality was amazing. It was much more expensive than if we were to have used regular natural leather.

Inspiration…

High performance shoes at the time were not edgy. The image of high performance shoes were like an honor roll student in high school. I preferred the outlaw rebellious student image; we wanted this shoe to be wild and dirty.

Original colorway…

We had just one colorway each for men and women when the GEL LYTE III was first released. I forget the color of the women’s version, but the men’s was green and black, with yellow accents.

Recent collaborations…

It’s really great that so many brands have decided to use the model as their base silhouette. I have a really good impression of these collabs. I really like the ones that ALIFE did with us. It’s a great silhouette to work with in terms of customization.

Old original pairs…

I missed out on keeping a pair of the originals. Maybe I could sell those off for a decent sum if I still had a pair! I designed the GT Quick model as well, which was very close to the GEL LYTE IIIs but for higher performance, and I still have an original pair of those.

Personal ASICS collection…

I wear ASICS every day, but I don’t have that many – only 10 pairs.

Mitsui’s current work with ASICS…

After I designed the GEL LYTE IIIs and the GT, I worked more on high performance and high function shoes like the IGS. I love what I do and I haven’t stopped designing shoes.

GEL LYTE III samples that Mitsui was wearing during the interview

Mitsui showing us the split tongue

Triple density midsole

Mitsui explaining the lace eyelets on paper

ASICS GEL LYTE IIIs are available at StarThreeSixty boutiques