ASICS Flagship Stores 2010-2014

In early 2010 ASICS Europe had already built a series of factory outlet stores when it was decided to open the first European flagship store in Amsterdam. WESTS DESIGN was assigned the task to adapt the concept developed by Japanese designers FORMATION for the Japanese market. GOTADIS collaborated with the architectural concept, incorporating the ASICS DNA into this singular space.

Located inside Stadhouderskade's Byzantium Building by famous dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, protected by Amsterdam's heritage commission, GOTADIS had to seek approval not only from city council but from M Koolhaas himself, to modify the curtain wall shopfront, as the entrance needed to be made wider.

GOTADIS and WESTS together established that the retail space would orbit around a strong technical nucleus, incorporating ASICS’s revolutionary technologies FootID and RunningLab in a central, two-story steel and glass sculptural hub that would be unique, simultaneously both high-tech and organic. The technology to construct this structure would be the one used in shipyards for ship hulls.

This high-tech two-story technological hub would later be repeated as the chore of store design for ASICS flagships on Oxford Street (London), Stockholm, Hamburg, and Barcelona.

ASICS flagship store Amsterdam would also be the first to implement the RunningClub, a changing facility inserted in the retail environment with locker rooms and showers, as well as a service, inviting athletes to unite around the ASICS philosophy and run together from the store into the VondelPark’s running tracks.

The footwear area was organised around two large counters designed to act as as interaction space between customers and sales assistants, remotely inspired by the Apple Store’s Genius bars.

To establish a connection with the factory outlet concept, as well as to enhance the high-tech nature of the retail space, continuous resin floorings were used, in a smoother and shinier finish than the one of the factory outlet stores.

The lighting system used in the Asics FLASHIP concept would also be the same that had proven so efficient in the factory outlet stores: 4000ºK metal-halide bulbs in a suspended double track system, later replaced by LED.

Another point in common was the predominance of white and blue colours throughout the store, which made the ASICS retail store stand out from its competition, with its clinical, lab-like aesthetics.

From 2010 until end of 2014, GOTADIS managed the successful implementation of six flagship stores in Europe: Stadouderskade Amsterdam, Hamngatan Stockholm, Diagonal Barcelona, Oxford Street London, Alcalá street Madrid, and Flagship Hamburg.