ANREALAGE unveiled the "MECHANOCHROMIC MONTE CREACE" sneakers, a collaboration with ASICS' Onitsuka Tiger, at their Spring/Summer 2018 collection show held on September 26th local time (starting midnight on September 27th Japan time), the first day of Paris Women's Fashion Week.

The theme of this season's collection is "POWER." The designers considered the relationship between clothing, the body, and power, and attempted an approach that visualizes the power of clothing. This collaboration shoe, created specially for the show, is based on Onitsuka Tiger's original "MONTE GRACE" model and utilizes a material known as "mechanochromic," which converts force into light. The material instantly emits light when stress is applied to the shoe's flex points while walking or to the tongue while tying laces.


Mechanoluminescent materials store energy and emit light when force is applied. They are potentially useful as sensors for visualizing cracks in building structures, or areas of stress concentration (deterioration), as well as for inspecting the integrity of social infrastructure such as bridges and tunnels, and for security purposes. Rather than relying on a power source for driving force, the shoes convert the location of applied force into light, indicating the location of the force. Pressure on the shoes during everyday movements like walking and running is visualized in the dark with light, creating a completely new shoe that allows you to see the force at work.

The design of this collaboration model is based on the "MONTE POKHARA," which was inspired by hiking boots from the 1950s, but has been stripped of its outdoor feel for a more fashionable look. While retaining the distinctive collar shape of the original, the shoes feature a monosock construction for easy wear. There are various ways to wear the shoes, such as tying the laces, and the design allows you to customize them to your liking.