DIE GESCHICHTE DAHINTER: Interview mit Mathieu Hagelaars - dem Designer der NEOTIDE™

DIE GESCHICHTE DAHINTER ist unser Format, in dem wir genauer hinschauen — jenseits der Oberfläche und hinein in die Details, die Marken, Produkte, Materialien und Designentscheidungen ausmachen. Durch Gespräche, Beiträge und kuratierte Einblicke beleuchten wir den Kontext, der oft unbemerkt bleibt, aber den Unterschied macht. Im Rahmen des exklusiven Release-Events der ASICS NEOTIDE™ in unserem physischen Store in Kopenhagen trafen wir den Mann hinter dem Design, Mathieu Hagelaars. Lies das Interview mit dem Gründer von Studio Hagel weiter unten. 

Can you tell us the story behind the NEOTIDE silhouette — how did the idea first come to life?

The whole circular project started with the NEOCURVE. It was something completely new for ASICS, a new way of producing, with new factories. They wanted it to stand out from the known ASICS product, so they reached out to me. We started from a clean slate, with the idea that everything was possible. We experimented a lot, failed, pivoted the design, and ended up with an amazing shoe. All the learnings from that, we took into the second style. This time I flipped the design process and focused on simplicity. We got inspired by how nature simplifies its surroundings. Think of how a landscape looks after a heavy snowfall, you still recognise the shape of a house or a tree, but everything is simplified. We took a very recognisable silhouette, the GEL-NYC, and worked from its most iconic patterns. That became the base for the NEOTIDE. The NEOTIDE is also a bit more bulky than the GEL-NYC,  and that's intentional. Snow doesn't just simplify, it also adds volume. We stayed true to that.

Were there any existing ASICS styles that inspired the design, and if so, how did they influence the final outcome?

Have a close look at the knitted part of the NEOTIDE and you'll see the patterns of the GEL-NYC. Even the waviness of the outsole was inspired by it. I love that you can like the NEOTIDE and feel it's a familiar shoe, without seeing the GEL-NYC at first glance.
Looking ahead, what’s next for ASICS' NEO journey — and how do you see it evolving from here?

The NEOCURVE was really an experiment, a proof of concept. The NEOTIDE was already a big step forward and showed the real potential of a circular shoe. It's a lighter shoe and we significantly increased the percentage of grinded old ASICS shoes in it. The next step is pushing that percentage even further and integrating the circular production process into the brand as a whole. That will take time, the grind facilities need to be close to the factories, and those are spread all over the world. But the goal is clear: this shouldn't be a separate line. It should just be the standard way of producing.

Sustainability plays a key role in the NEOTIDE silhouette. Can you share more about the making of the shoe using recycled materials and ground ASICS shoes - were there any challenges, key learnings, or unexpected (perhaps even fun) moments during this process?

Working with new factories also means a lot of unexpected moments. The first samples were sort of Frankensteins, haha, but we managed to make something amazing out of it. For these projects we teamed up with Fast Feet Grinded in the Netherlands. Their facilities can separate all the materials a shoe is made of. It really feels like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. you throw a shoe into one end of the machine, and out comes rubber, EVA, nylon, all separated and ready for recycling. That base material is what we used to create new threads for the knitted uppers, rubber for the outsole, and EVA for the midsole. With the NEOCURVE the grinded material was still very visible. For the NEOTIDE, the ASICS team developed a special treatment to grind it down even further, almost to a powder. So it's much less visible in the final shoe.

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