Talk to Chinese fashion brand 8ON8 about the new asISS collaboration and the humorous and beautiful misunderstandings in the Spring/Summer 2022 show "Retro Futurism" "(ASICS KAHANA) is an upgraded version of the classic style of the ASICS running shoe family" "Rock and roll knows no borders, no ethnicity, rock is a spirit" "I have always liked the most original visual and tactile sense of a thing"

In recent years, fashion is not divided into families, and sneaker brands are increasingly inclined to cooperate with fashion brands. ASICS, as one of the leaders, has a long brand heritage, including opportunities from designer brand Kiko Kostadinov to art organization Expert Horror, etc., many domestic fashion brands such as Chemist Creations, 8ON8 and other domestic fashion brands have also received olive branches from ASICS, "reshaping" many ASICS classics in different styles.

Following last year's collaboration, as THEICS x 8ON8 partners "renewed the frontier" this year, not long ago with the Spring/Summer 2022 collection. From "Gala in the Pond!" (Spring/Summer 2021) to this season's "The Best Sounds AROUND", 8ON8 integrates the fashion gene into the sportswear through its own interpretation of ASICS.

The one-day show, from rehearsals to the official SHOW TIME, brings together ASICS x 8ON8's collaborative collection and designers' new quarterly apparel. With multiple carriers such as design, music, and space, it presents the ideal blueprint constructed by gong Li, the principal and designer, in his mind.

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Gong Li, who graduated from the Central Saint Martin Menswear Master's Degree, was the first designer in China to be awarded the Grand Prix LVMH Scholarship and founded his own menswear brand 8ON8 in 2017. If you carefully "browse" Gong Li's design, runway and other visuals, you will find that in the aesthetics of "retro futurism", there will always be some humorous and beautiful "misunderstandings". For example, "Why is it called 8ON8?" , only because Gong Li accidentally condensed the word "8ON8" when printing his surname "GONG".

Gong Li's design inspiration may come from a fragment of life such as a movie, a photo, or a song, and then integrate into the world of consciousness to piece together a complete concept, which can be the surreal world of "smashing a person with strawberries" or the utopian world of "depicting a never-ending blueprint for life". The designer presents a recognizable aesthetic design with absolute discourse power, while striving for excellence in fabric craftsmanship and cutting colors, creating countless possibilities for mature, clean and enthusiastic youth. Taking advantage of the afterglow, we went to interview the designer Gong Li with curiosity.

Gong Li

8ON8 Principal and Designer

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" >"(ASICS KAHANA) is an upgraded version of the classic style of the ASICS running shoe family"</h1>

After a year of working with ASICS again, how did you interpret the ASICS brand in this collaboration?

During this year, ASICS and I have maintained communication and plan to work together to develop a deeper level of cooperation. As we all know, ASICS, as a sports brand that started with running shoe culture, is very strict about the comfort and quality of shoes. This is also why after repeated deliberation and optimization, we have produced such a capsule series that covers the whole category and retains the characteristics of both brands.

Why did YOU CHOOSE ASICS KAHANA AS A CO-BRANDED SHOE FOR THIS COOPERATION?

This is an upgraded version of the classic style of the ASICS running shoe family. For such a collaboration, I always want to maintain the most classic tone of the brand, and on this basis give it the soul of 8ON8. I hope that fans of both sides can see the most recognizable shadow of the brands they support on this cooperative shoe, and from this point on have a deeper understanding of the brand culture of the partners.

Working with ASICS for the second time, is it different for you, from mood to design?

Every time I've worked with ASICS, I've been very personal. The tones and ideas of both sides are very compatible, and all I need to do is to reflect many of my ideas about ASICS on the product through repeated collaborations.

The "Eternal Star" monogram, which has been popular since last season, in addition to extending to this season's design, is also one of the elements of your series with ASICS this time, has the "Eternal Star" become the iconic symbol of 8ON8?

On the runway of the 8ON8 AW21, the first launch of the Eternal Star monogram is destined to become an indelible symbol of 8ON8 in everyone's hearts. It will also appear in various products of 8ON8 in various forms in the future.

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With the slogan "The Best Sounds AROUND" hanging in the center of the runway, how did you show this theme through design?

The theme of this SS22 series is an English rock party in a yurt. Friends who have come to the scene know that the 8ON8 show show is not only the costumes, but also a complete atmosphere of the scene, the image and the soundtrack, so that everyone can be immersed in the scene. And the soundtrack of each show is my own selection of clips – "The Best Sounds" haunts everyone.

Compared to previous shows, the series has a wild and original meaning from music to space, what inspired you to have such a transformation?

Mongolian elements inject an exotic touch into 8ON8's consistent British image, allowing viewers to experience a carnival of British rock parties in a yurt. It may also be that I haven't gone out to play for a long time, and I am mentally attached to the landscape.

Using Mongolian rock as the runway music, to injecting Mongolian elements into the British rock style, how do you incorporate these cultures into your design?

Rock and roll knows no borders, let alone ethnicity, rock is a spirit. Inject this spirit into the image of life. I hope to bring enthusiasm and energy to everyone who wears them, and may the surging spiritual world forge its own rock life in the day-to-day life.

The concept of sustainability is one of the highlights of your design, is there a bigger breakthrough in the use of fabrics this time?

Knitting and denim are two of our main categories, in the selection of knitting raw materials we will choose some recycled or organic yarns, but also in the post-processing of denim products using lasers and prints instead of washing, to achieve a richer visual effect. For the concept of sustainability, I pay more attention to spiritual sustainability, so the brand has always been committed to transmitting a positive attitude towards life.

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How has the "youth culture" as the brand's positioning, "classical humor" and "retro futurism" aesthetics been consistently and collectively reflected in the design?

There are many kinds of young people, and 8ON8 has always exported a mature, clean and enthusiastic youth culture. Retro Futurism also interprets the inheritance of a classic culture, extracts the essence from the long river of history, and transforms it into a product of the present in a modern way, inspiring the vision of the future in life.

Do these (youth culture, classical humor, retro-futurism) continue to extend to the design of this series?

This is the brand image and design language of 8ON8, which will bring more surprises to everyone in various ways in the future.

The Spring/Summer 2021 collection is in the landscape, the Fall/Winter 2021 collection depicts a hunting holiday, and in this endless grassland land, you seem to have always tended to use nature as a runway concept?

Regardless of the costume or the scene, I have always liked the most original visual and tactile sense of a thing, and I don't like to do too much processing. And each season will create a painting with a story based on the theme of the season to express it more graphically. Therefore, the moving line on the scene region is also born.

Finally, 8ON8 embodies your ideal world, how did you achieve this "ideal-reality" balance from before, present to the future?

Everything I do is derived from life and is higher than life, which is similar to the concept of writing a novel. The idealized vision in the spiritual world will undoubtedly bring greater confidence and foundation to people's real lives. You can face the bittersweet and bittersweet in life more calmly.

Just like the answer to the last question, designer Gong Li will bring the vision of the ideal to everyone present through the design of 8ON8. This spirit can be primitive, rock'n' roll, or it can be a product of translating the legacy of the past into the present. But what is indispensable is that designer Gong Li, in the control of the original design quality, continues to inject fresh design elements, fabrics, etc. into the brand through dramatization.

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