EARLS returns to ASICS with rugby-inspired second collaboration, expanding into football boots

EARLS has taken its ASICS story off the safe ground of retro running and onto the pitch, pairing a GEL-Cumulus 16 with the Lethal Testimonial 4 IT in a second collaboration that feels deeply personal and tactically smart. After the sold-out 2024 GT-2160 Ngāwari, founder Lewi Brown has pushed the partnership into sharper territory, where rugby memory, football equipment and streetwear styling overlap instead of competing.

The collection is rooted in Brown’s upbringing in Christchurch, New Zealand, and in the rugby background that shaped the EARLS point of view from the start. EARLS describes the project as “From Christchurch to the world, this second chapter with ASICS is built on family, reconnection and healing, and the moments that shape us.” That emotional frame gives the release more weight than a standard sneaker sequel. This is not just a colorway exercise. It is Brown translating a personal history into product language.

The footwear itself makes that translation visible. The GEL-Cumulus 16 arrives in Coconut Milk, black and brown, cut through with orange ASICS and GEL accents that keep the shoe from drifting into full heritage pastiche. Retail listings point to style code 1203B053-200 and a price of $230 CAD, a sharp but not unreasonable ask for a shoe that sits in the same premium conversation as other elevated ASICS retros. The footbeds carry rug-inspired graphics tied to Brown’s childhood home, and box art reportedly extends that storytelling further by referencing his Christchurch family home and the Riccarton Knights, the rugby club that shaped his early years.

The bigger move is the Lethal Testimonial 4 IT. EARLS has not simply dressed up a runner and called it a day. It has stepped into performance football footwear for the first time with ASICS, a shift that feels especially well timed as streetwear drifts away from its long dependence on nostalgic running models. Football boots, with their tighter profiles, tougher materials and pitch-coded attitude, are becoming the more interesting silhouette for brands that want sport heritage without looking obvious.

The collection is expected to land May 23, 2026, through global retailers. If the first EARLS x ASICS release proved Brown could make a runner sell out, this follow-up suggests something more durable: a brand that understands how personal history can be shaped into a product system, and how the next wave of streetwear may look less like a track lane and more like the touchline.