At Milan Design Week 2026, ASICS SportStyle brings to Milan something that is more than a simple installation: an experience that puts the body back at the center, starting from a finding as simple as it is powerful—just 15 minutes and 9 seconds of movement can positively impact the mind. This is where ASICS Kinetic Playscape comes from, a space that is not just meant to be observed, but to be fully experienced.
From April 22 to 24, inside the spaces of Garage 21, the installation marks the debut of ASICS SportStyle at Salone del Mobile with a public activation that gives physical form to the motto Anima Sana In Corpore Sano. It is not just storytelling: it is a direct invitation to move, experiment, and play.
Imagined as a fictional research institute, the Playscape comes to life thanks to NUOVA studio, which builds a retro-futuristic environment where Italian radical design and Japanese minimalism coexist seamlessly. The result is an immersive journey divided into five chapters, five rooms that guide visitors through different physical and emotional states—from the gravity of the body to its lightness in motion. Here, space is not static: it reacts, stimulates, and engages. The point is not to look, but to step into the system. Movement becomes part of the experience, not a side effect.
At the center of the project is the new ASICS GEL-KINETIC 2.0, developed at the ASICS Institute of Sport Science in Kobe. The silhouette draws from archival models such as GEL-KINETIC 4, GEL-FRANTIC, and GEL-TORNADO, reworking them through a contemporary lens. Scutoid GEL technology for cushioning, a TPU structure for stability and responsiveness: everything is designed to support everyday movement, not just performance.
But the real insight is another: directly connecting product and experience. The sneakers are not displayed, they are tested. Worn. Activated in the very space they were designed for.
A coherent creative ecosystem is built around this core. The uniforms are designed by SOSHIOTSUKI, which reinterprets Japanese tailoring through a sportswear lens, while the sonic dimension is curated by Matéo Garcia, who turns sound into an architectural element capable of influencing perception and movement. It is not a minor detail: in an experience that revolves around the body, audio becomes essential too.
The result is an environment in which every element—from light to materials, from sound to gesture—works in the same direction: proving that movement is not just function, but creative energy. And that design, when thoughtfully conceived, can change the way we move through space.
ASICS Kinetic Playscape thus becomes a concrete test of how brand, science, and design can converge into something that only makes sense when it is lived. And if the goal was to get people moving, the strategy is clear: do not say it, build a space where doing it feels natural.
ph. credits @alessandrosaletta & @lorenzo.capelli
