HIDDEN NY and ASICS unveil GEL-KINETIC 2.0 in Tokyo pop-up

HIDDEN NY has taken ASICS’ GEL-KINETIC 2.0 and pushed it straight into the post-Y2K lane, using translucent overlays, bright green hits and retro-running references to make a hefty technical sneaker feel newly urgent. The shoe is framed around a Past, Present, Future idea that leans on internet-native taste without losing the comfort and function that make an ASICS runner worth wearing in the first place.

The design reaches back into the brand’s archive, borrowing cues from the GEL-KINETIC and GEL-FRANTIC while sharpening them for now. That matters because the silhouette already carries the kind of dad-shoe bulk that streetwear has been rehabbing for years, but HIDDEN NY gives it a cleaner, more coded finish: visible tech, pixel-based branding and a color language that reads like vintage digital hardware translated into footwear. A second, more exclusive GEL-KINETIC 2.0 colorway was also revealed ahead of the Tokyo launch, suggesting the project is being treated less like a one-off and more like a small visual system.

The first reveal and sale will happen at SO1 Gallery in Harajuku, where HIDDEN NY and ASICS will stage a two-day pop-up called ZEN AND THE ART OF MOVEMENT from May 23 to 24, 2026, running from 12:00 to 19:00. ASICS x HIDDEN NY is being positioned as HIDDEN NY’s first physical event in Japan, and the sneaker will be pre-sold there before its wider June 5 release. That gives the Tokyo stop a real collector’s pull: the shoe lands first in a setting built to feel more like an installation than a storefront.

The pop-up is tied to Michael Green’s 1986 book Zen and the Art of the Macintosh, which HIDDEN PRESS is republishing for the occasion after 40 years without a reissue. The experience also includes a short film with the same ZEN AND THE ART OF MOVEMENT title and a limited Zen apparel capsule spanning T-shirts, hoodies, caps and bags. OMOHARAREAL says the space will add treadmills linked to a concept video, a large pixel-based display, a recreated study and an oversized version of Green’s book with turnable pages, all of it wrapped in a palette inspired by aging vintage PCs. After the 2023 GEL-NYC collaboration, this feels like a deeper and smarter continuation, one that turns ASICS’ running DNA into a more specific cultural object.