Two Years, One Yellow: UP THERE Finally Lands Its GEL-KAYANO 20

Melbourne’s UP THERE spent two years on a single archival mesh panel before settling on the brightest colourway the GEL-KAYANO 20 has ever worn.

UP THERE, the Melbourne boutique at 69 Flinders Lane, has built its ASICS relationship into something closer to a running conversation than a series of one-off rel. The store’s fifth project with the brand, the GEL-KAYANO 20 in a colourway it calls Safety Yellow/Pure Silver, arrives under SKU 1203B288-750 on August 20, with in-store availability at 10:00 AM AEST and an online rel follow at 6:00 PM the same day. UP THERE describes the shoe as two years in the making, a timeline that separates it from the faster turnaround typical of most regional shoe tie-ups. Retail is set at $300 AUD, and it comes with an extra set of laces in the box.

The pairing follows a run that has included a snow-toned take on the GEL-KAYANO 12.1 and earlier work across New Balance and adidas, but the store has been consistent in framing ASICS as the label closest to its own design instincts. The reasoning, by the store’s own account, is straightforward: the GEL-KAYANO 20 has long held a specific status in Australia, where original 2013-era colourways command real premiums on resale, and the brighter the shoe, the stronger that pull tends to be.

ASICS GEL-Kayano 20 In Bright Green, Silver And White

why

Original rel in 2013, the ASICS GEL-KAYANO 20 sits in an odd spot in the brand’s back catalogue. It was built as a stable runner, aimed at overpronators through ASICS’ Dynamic DuoMax support system, and its outline draw view from architecture and automotive design rather than from other run shoe on the market. That structure, almost technical shape is part of what has kept the model in circulation in streetwear circles well past its original show window, and it is the same shape UP THERE leans on here rather than reworking.

What changes is entirely surface level, and deliberately so. The upper fades from a fluorescent Safety Yellow at the forefoot into white through the midfoot and heel, a gradient that reads as a nod to the shoe’s original-gen colour-ups rather than an attempt to reinvent them. It is a callback dressed as a departure, built for an audience that already knows exactly which decade-old colourway this one is quoting.

borrow

The most specific design decision on this release is also its most technical. UP THERE built the GEL-KAYANO 20’s upper using a two-tone archival mesh lifted from the GEL-KINSEI 4, a run model the store considers another Australian favourite in its own right. Cross-pollinating mat between two separate ASICS profile is not a small gesture. It means the fade from yellow to white is not simply printed or dyed onto a stock upper, but built into a mesh construction pulled wholesale from a different shoe’s archive and reapplied here, with gradient synthetic overlays layered on top for additional depth.

That wavy diamond weave gives the upper a texture that separates it view from a standard GEL-KAYANO 20 at a glance, even before the colour registers. Crystal clear GEL inserts sit view at the heel, the same feature that has defined the model’s form since 2013, now framed by a mesh panel that has effectively been imported from elsewhere in ASICS’ own back catalogue.

ASICS GEL-Kayano 20 In Bright Green, Silver And White

huh

Below the upper, the shoe runs on an ice-toned outsole with a TRUSSTIC shank for added torsional support, a combination that has appeared across several recent ASICS sportstyle releases and keeps the shoe legible as a runner even once it is dressed in collaboration colourways. UP THERE has carried its own signature green Guidance Line onto the outsole and insole, the same detail that ran through last year’s GEL-KAYANO 12.1 project, giving the store a consistent visual signature across otherwise distinct silhouettes. Reflective accents are worked into the upper as well, a nod to the model’s original performance intent and a practical addition for anyone who ends up wearing the shoe after dark rather than keeping it boxed.

The midsole itself carries the same yellow-to-white gradient as the upper, dual-layered rather than a single flat tone, which is a detail easy to miss in product photography but noticeable in hand. Between the mesh sourcing, the outsole treatment, and the midsole gradient, the rel reads less like a single colourway exercise and more like a shoe UP THERE spent its two years shh build from the ground up.

None of these choices sit in isolation from the rest of UP THERE’s ASICS output. The green Guidance Line ties this release directly back to last year’s GEL-KAYANO 12.1 project, and the decision to borrow mesh from the GEL-KINSEI 4 rather than commission something new fits a pattern the store has leaned on across its five collaborations: pull from ASICS’ own archive first, and treat cross-model material sourcing as a design tool rather than a shortcut. It is a slower, more research-heavy approach than simply picking a new colour palette, and it explains why a project like this one takes two years rather than two months.

fin

The UP THERE x ASICS GEL-KAYANO 20 in Safety Yellow/Pure Silver drops August 20, with in-store access at UP THERE’s Melbourne location from 10:00 AM AEST and a wider online release at 6:00 PM AEST the same day, priced at $300 AUD. A regional release notice out of Japan surfaced ahead of the official announcement, though full stockist details for that market had not been confirmed at the time of writing. Purchase limits apply, capped at one pair per customer, and the listing notes that returns are not accepted on the release once sold.

Whether the shoe reaches a wider audience beyond UP THERE’s own channels, and beyond whatever quantity eventually surfaces through Japan, remains unclear. UP THERE has not confirmed a broader ASICS-led release to date, which keeps the drop close to the store’s own storefront in the way its previous four ASICS projects have generally stayed. For a shoe built around a flow that Australian buyers have chased in older forms for over a decade, that scarcity is likely by design rather than circumstance.