Understanding the ASICS Foam Nomenclature and Terminology…
ASICS has been struggling with differentiating their names for years. In the past, this meant you would see visible technology in a lot of their shoes, Gel was a staple, and their FlyteFoam system was proudly stamped on the side of almost all of the shoes, regardless of what foam was ACTUALLY in the shoe.
Flytefoam basically meant essentially any foam that ASICS decided to throw in their running performance category shoes. In the more ‘modern age’ asics has transitioned to using the FF name, but in my heart it's still FlyteFoam…
Needless tangent aside, the biggest innovation that began to confuse things for ASICS in terms of naming, was the creation of FFBlast. The first shoe to have this foam was the Novablast. The foam was more resilient, lighter, and more fun.
The geometry of the Novablast allowed for a trampoline like feeling because there was basically a puck of foam underneath your forefoot, with a big channel for the foam to compress in and out of. This created an extremely fun feeling shoe. The Novablast 5 keeps the same geometry but uses a new foam, FFBlast Max, which is the newest, lightest, and softest version of this foam to date.
FFBlast Max can also be found this year in shoes like the glideride max, the top layer of foam is FFBlast Max, while the lower layer is FFBlast+, (which is the 2nd iteration of FFBlast for those who are keeping track).
FFBlast+ Eco is the foam that was first found in the Novablast 4, (3rd iteration of FFBlast…) but now is in the Nimbus and the Cumulus 27’s, it’s also apparently the same foam that we see in the Kayano and the GT2000 this year. Now this is where I think things get really tricky, because if you’ve worn these 4 shoes, you know none of them feel like each other. This is because of two reasons, 1) the geometry on all of these models allows for the cushioning to collapse differently, based on the needs that the shoe is trying to fill. (Stability or neutral, plush, or faster) And reason 2) is that even though a company calls two foams the same name, they are fine tuning things behind the scenes to ensure that the customer experience is fulfilled. The foams are different, and that's ok. Do consumers need to know all of this? No, but now you know.
FFTurbo is a racing foam that was first used in the Metaspeed in 2021, that Shoe was called the MetaSpeed Sky and Edge, in a Tokyo Colour edition upon its first release. It was updated to the MetaSpeed Sky+ and Edge+ in 2022, which had the same FFTurbo foam. Asics then updated the shoe for the Paris Olympics, where they cleverly called the Shoe MetaSpeed Sky Paris, and Edge Paris, This time with a new lighter, bouncier foam, called FFTurbo+. Simple right?
Now we arrive at the moment you’ve been waiting for. What the hell are they doing with the new Metaspeeds? The Newest edition of the MetaSpeed Sky Tokyo and Edge Tokyo. Not to be confused with the Original metaspeed, which was labeled with the Tokyo colour name…. Anyway! The big story with the New Meta Speed is the dual foams in the mid sole, Asics has unveiled its newest foam creation, FFLeap. Which is the biggest LEAP forward in foam tech for asics to date. FFLeap is a TPEE compound, which allows the foam to be incredibly resilient, and lighter than ever before. The addition of the new foam has a weight savings of about 20g for a men's sample size, which is close to 8% lighter than before.
In the SKY you'll find the FFLeap on the bottom layer of the foam, and FFTurbo+ on the top layer. The plate in the sky is also very flat and stuck in the middle of the foam, so it sits pretty close to the foot. The idea here is that your foot will use the plate to compress the softer bottom foam, and aggressively propel you forward, acting like a mechanical leaver.
In the Edge the foams are swapped, you have very soft foam right against your foot, with the slightly less soft FFTurbo+ on the bottom layer. The plate in the edge is very curved, which gives the shoe a slightly smoother sensation off the toe. The idea is that you are striking with this shoe a bit closer to the heel, and rolling smoothly through the footstrike, the foam is there to catch you and the plate keeps you rolling.
In short, the Edge is for Heel strikers, and the Sky is for Forefoot strikers…. Simple? Maybe. But you should still make sure you try them both if you can. I’ve found that people generally prefer one over the other, and it's not always consistent with their strike pattern.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my ted talk.
Michael OUT
