Going 360 Degrees: The ASICS GEL-QUANTUM™ Evolution
The word ‘cult’ gets thrown around the sneakersphere quite a lot, but when referring to the series it rings true. Since slamming onto sneaker store shelves in 2015, the GEL-QUANTUM™ line has become the sacred go-to for certain crowds, thanks to its ability to fuzz the lines between sport and style. The franchise is now synonymous with comfort, alongside a rambunctious aura that has no trouble pervading today’s social media-dominated landscape.
While the ASICS GEL-QUANTUM™ name is known across the globe, countries such as Australia and France boast a particularly dedicated pack of admirers, especially in the street style space. The franchise's backers rock the model’s many bright colourways with all-in attitude, flexing the GEL-injected midsole whether it packs 90, 180 or 360 degrees of the patented tech.
This year marks an entire decade of ASICS GEL-QUANTUM™, and the 360 silhouette is at the centre of the celebrations (its eighth variation having landed just last year). ASICS have continued the festivities by dropping 2015's original 360 1 and 2019's 360 5, which sit alongside the new-gen 360 8.
To toast 10 years of ASICS GEL-QUANTUM™ 360, we’re looking back to witness the line's evolution by dissecting these three key models in the franchise.
How it Started: Taking the QUANTUM™ 360 Leap
While GEL tech has been around since 1986, it wasn’t until 2015 that a full-length GEL midsole hit the footwear scene's soapbox, arriving in the GEL-QUANTUM™ 360. Designed inside the Japanese brand’s Kobe HQ, the shoe took three years to develop and immediately set the stage for its decade-long domination. At the time, there were barely any ASICS models that contained visible tech comparable to the ASICS GEL-QUANTUM™, with the and Sendei amongst the new tech’s few predecessors.
Inspired by the raw guts of biology, ASICS designers imagined the structure of the 360 1 as bone, and the plush cushioning below as meat or muscle. Combining GEL with their Trussic tech, the new shoe provided supreme comfort and a contemporary new look. While the OG tech has carried through the line’s evolution, many later models have innovated even further with FF BLAST+ foam and DIVISION GEL. That energy has transferred to ASICS’ eight variants in the line, propelling mega changes that have reinvented the technology on a regular basis.
An Assertive Aura
As a commanding force in ASICS’ catalogue, the GEL-QUANTUM™ 360 has shown a maturation of design and build which befits its status. For the OG silhouette, ASICS crafted a pointed toe with slits in the fabric upper, a solid heel counter, and proud lateral and medial branding touches. No surprise that the fan-favourite feature was the midsole, which hosted block-like compartments to hold the GEL. (Purists will be pleased to hear that the model’s 2025 retro is true to its forefather, coming with a period-correct shape, jacquard mesh and heel counter.) Though the OG’s design was simple and effective – its soft fabric uppers and sleek midsoles continued for a number of years – slowly, aesthetic changes transformed the QUANTUM™ 360 franchise into the supreme force of style it is today.
Four years after the 2015 original, ASICS launched their fifth GEL-QUANTUM™ 360. By this time, the build looked vastly different; engineered mesh uppers presented alongside an embossed heel counter with large, scripted ‘GEL’ branding, and the tongue now rocked asymmetric detailing. The midsole, packed with GEL, was a completely different beast, bolstered by the use of triangular shapes that matched the pattern on the 360 1’s heel counter. The 360 5 was game-changing, and cleared ASICS’ path for a whole host of follow-ups.
Last in our triple-dive comparison is the most recent entry in the GEL-QUANTUM™ lineage: the 360 8, which arrived last year. Even a cursory glance could tell you that ASICS had decided on a completely different tack for this eighth generation of the model. The first iteration saw the entire upper clad in mesh, with a silhouette inspired by natural forms and interlocking structures that resulted in a much more rounded shape – vastly different from its previous pointed variants. While the original tech carried through the line's evolution, many later models modernised even further with FF BLAST+, DIVISION GEL and foam, culminating in the GEL-QUANTUM™ 360 8 as the lightest in the line while also sporting the biggest volume of GEL. There's already been plenty of innovation with materials since the launch for the 360 8, with the recent 'Emboss' variant donning a neoprene-esque, all-over build, reimagined with a 3D-mesh welder.
A Technicolour Tale
Over the years of the GEL-QUANTUM™ 360’s chronicle, ASICS have evolved the line's colourway story. When it launched in 2015, the GEL-QUANTUM™ franchise became famed for the hectic colour combos dreamed up by its design team. Myriad neck-cranking iterations were proudly worn by fearless ASICS fiends across the globe, including models such as the ‘Skittles’ and ‘NYC Marathon’ – both certified heavy hitters which still command hefty resale prices. When ASICS resurrected the original 360 this year, they couldn’t tamp their nostalgia, and decided to bring back its original debut colourway: orange, with bright blue on the midsole. It was a savvy choice, as this tasteful chaos is exactly what initially brought the 360 1 to the global stage with a bang.
At the release of the 360’s fifth generation model, sneakerheads' palette palates had changed. It was 2019: technicolour iterations were no longer the preferred flavour, but with the QUANTUM™ 360 already a global name, ASICS had the freedom to pivot to monochrome builds with the occasional pupil-popping tonal construction. There are two cult favourite 360 5 colourways: the ‘Blue Diamond’ from the model's original year of release, and the currently available ‘Watershed Rose’ – though you can also score a murdered-out build and classic ‘Triple White’ from among the options out in the ether.
Travelling down the narrative line and arriving at last year’s 360 8, ASICS kept the colourways extra clean-cut to suit the new, rounded construction. The first iteration landed in a crisp blue and black, but ASICS still love to occasionally throw it back to the 360s of old – case in point, the mean, green ‘Emboss’ edition which lands in August this year.
Casting your eyes between the 360 1, the 360 5 and the 360 8, the models look light years apart – and yet they are bookended by a full 360 degrees of GEL! A decade of the ASICS GEL-QUANTUM™ 360 series has seen its evolution unmatched in the ‘sphere, and that reason is certainly good enough for fans to party hard. You can cop the 360 1 and 360 8 pictured above on August 1, while the 360 5 is ready to cop right now. Head to the to scoop yours.
You can keep up to date on all ASICS GEL-QUANTUM™ 360 news right , and keep up with all the latest drops .