Thai Boutique CARNIVAL Celebrates its Anniversary with a New Asics Collab

What better way to celebrate a sneaker shop anniversary than a love letter to the neighborhood that birthed it? At Bangkok, Thailand’s CARNIVAL, the shop has been going strong since 2010, and for its fourth partnership with Asics, the team built a colorway based on Phra Nakhon, the central Bangkok neighborhood where both of the store’s founders were raised.

The CARNIVAL x Asics Gel-Kayano 12.1 Hidden Layers of Phra Nakhon features an exploration of texture and material alongside a color combo mixing white, blue, green, and metallic silver. So far, we’ve only seen the shoe in a couple of early preview images, but from what we can see, well, we want more info as soon as possible.

Starting with a textured off-white fabric on the toebox, side panels, and heel that looks a bit like papier-mache, the support structure mixes metallic silver with hits of black and, on the tiger stripe logo, a mix of blue to green gradient. In addition to the carefully designed shoe, the collab box features an all-over print pattern on a blue base.

The CARNIVAL x Asics Gel-Kayano 12.1 doesn’t have a release date or retail price just yet, but expect it to be exclusive to Thailand and released through CARNIVAL locations in-store and online. For all the latest Asics collab news and drop info, download the Sole Retriever App.

Zach Harris

Zach Harris is a writer based in Philadelphia. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vice, Complex, High Times, and more. He is obsessed with skateboarding and bowling. He is still looking for his first 300. For tips, reviews, and anything in size 10.5 - zach.h@soleretriever.com