COSTS x Asics Gel Lyte 3 'Cane Vine'
I originally saw these leak on @le.syndrome , it peaked my interest given the unique design. I love the concept of the vines and how they implemented the vine to go through the stripes. The attention to detail & quality that went into this shoe is really what made me want to pick these up.
Materials: From a material standpoint, this has some of the best suede used on a GL3 that I have personally owned. The suede that they used on the entire upper is very soft to touch & has a nice color change when brushing across it. In the toe area, you have a soft brown suede & this continues into the tongue area. One of the most unique features, imo, is the embroidery that was designed in a vine-like pattern on the split tongue (which somewhat follows my lacing pattern). On the medial part of the tongue they put the COSTS logo embroidered in black and on the left sneaker they use the Asics 'A' logo as well. My favorite area of the sneaker is the Stripes. They pay homage to a vine in a tan suede with the little suede spikes like you'd see on a rose stem. Lastly, I really love the shade of the teal-ish suede that is used on the upper. It's like a light blue/teal color and is really beautiful in hand. Overall, I was really impressed with this Collab.
Comfort/Sizing: imo, the gl3 is a comfortable sneaker. It has a nice squishy feel to it that molds to your feet nicely overtime. In terms of sizing, I grabbed these in a size 8 & they fit me perfectly. They're not the same shape as the Kith pairs, so it fits well in a 8 & the tongue is closed.
Overall Opinion: COSTS executed this Collab very nicely. If you just look at some recent collabs they've done, they have designed some beautiful products. From the Salomon XT-6, to the Padmore & Barnes, & now these, they're doing some really beautiful work. Regarding this sneaker, I really enjoyed the 'vine' theme of the sneaker and I was impressed by the quality of the suede used. Given this sneaker is paying homage to their previous designs, the overall outcome of these feel like they put together something special.