Lewi Brown of Earls Collection Is One of Sneakers' Great Storytellers
ARTICLE BY SEBASTIAN BUGEJA-DRINKELL
You may know Lewi Brown as a professional rugby league player. Or, maybe you’ve heard his name attached to Earls Collection, the fashion brand he founded after retiring from sport. But after chatting with Lewi following the announcement of his label’s second ASICS collaboration, we now know him as one of sneakers’ greatest storytellers.
Earls Collection first linked with ASICS in 2024, releasing a GT-2160 dubbed ‘Ngāwari’ inspired by Brown’s Māori heritage. The global reception for this debut colab was unprecedented – pairs sold out, and there was no doubt that Earls x ASICS would drop a follow-up in time. What was ultimately announced presented a first-of-its-kind drop for an Australian brand: Not only was the partnership releasing a GEL-CUMULUS 16, but a TESTIMONIAL 4 football boot as well – an ode to Brown’s career in rugby.
The storytelling imbued into this linkup goes far deeper than your average sneaker narrative. Each and every part of the two-shoe pack tells the tale of a boy from Christchurch who strove for – and eventually lived – his dreams, as well as the people who supported him along the way. From material choices to colours and smaller design details, both the CUMULUS 16 and LETHAL TESTIMONIAL 4 salute Brown’s close family ties, his local football club the Riccarton Knights, and the other influences that shaped his identity. The boot and sneaker also represent Brown’s two homes: sport and family.
Following the announcement of the latest Earls Collection x ASICS collaboration, we sat down with Lewi Brown to talk about vulnerability, what white football boots mean to him, the power of creative expression in sport, and more!
Take us back to what was happening in your life when you released the GT-2160 ‘Ngāwari’. How did it feel to see that much success from your first ASICS colab?
We named the GT-2160 ‘Ngāwari’ because it translates to ‘tread gently’ in Māori. That really aligns with ASICS’ ‘Sound Mind, Sound Body’, and also reflects the foundations of Earls Collection. So if I can sort of take myself back to that place, bro, to be brutally honest with you, [my first collaboration] came a lot earlier than I ever thought it would. Not many people know this, but my grandfather – my Pop, who is my Māori side – he basically raised me, stepped in as a father figure, and he wore ASICS his whole life. The day after his funeral, ASICS reached out to me, not even knowing that he had passed away, and asked me to go up to Marsden Park. I went out there and I thought I was getting seeded shoes for a shoot, and that's when I met up with the ASICS team. That was the day that they told me that I was going to get my first-ever colab.
On the table that day, there were a few silhouettes. And on that day the one that spoke to me, and best represented my journey at that time and stage of my life, was the GT-2160. I felt like it had that sporting element, but it also had this fashion heritage as well. When my grandfather's funeral was going on, our Māori whānau came in. So at that point, I got to really embrace myself with Māori culture. It took me nearly two weeks to design the GT-2160 ‘Ngāwari’. I designed it at my dinner table.
If I could take you back to that time…I don't look Māori, but it's something I'm very, very proud of. I really wanted to take my culture on a journey with me and showcase it to the world, to the globe. I thought, ‘What better way to do it than through a piece of art in a shoe?’ At the end of the day, I've always been able to represent my people and the culture through rugby league, through pulling on the Kiwis jumper or doing the Haka. But I felt like, you know, doing it in a shoe, then relating it back to the culture that I'm so immersed in...
I've always loved storytelling, and to open the raffle that day and see that all sizes had been taken up? Yeah, I was super excited. Obviously, you know, through that period as well, you go through imposter syndrome. There's lots of emotions, but just to be able to see people embrace it – I think when you lean into your culture, it's not the people that buy the product, it's more or less the culture accepting it. And to hear some beautiful words from Kaumātua and elders, for them to reach out and say that I represent the culture so well on the global scale, I think that was the tick of approval.
How soon after the first colab was this second linkup locked in and set in motion?
I think the first meeting about the footy boot was just before ASICS had released ‘The Voyager’ Pack, and my GT-2160 was still in the works and being sampled. ASICS floated the thought of actually doing a boot, or coming on to the design side to help out in a creative-direction way. Then they said, ‘You're gonna be the first person to take on this SKU – the LETHAL TESTIMONIAL 4.’ There was actually meant to be a third shoe, the Tiger Touch – my background's touch footy as well. But for some reason they couldn’t, with the IP, we couldn't get it across the line. At the time, they also presented the CUMULUS 16, which I loved. So we ended up with the two. But two was just enough, bro. Going from one shoe to two, but also, you know… One shoe, that's a shoe. But then another that’s a performance shoe.
It came super quickl. To be able to actually retire and then like, you didn't get a boot… but it's reverse engineering. It's not meant to happen that way, you know what I mean? It wasn't even when I was in the NRL! So, you know, that project came across my desk pretty quickly, and I also understood the power of that, and the faith, and also probably the vision that ASICS had seen in me. So I did still feel pressure – but at the same time, I feel like that's where I thrive the most. I'm the type of person where I need to be in an uncomfortable scenario for me to grow, for me to be at my most creative and for me to storytell as well. Hopefully I've done both the CUMULUS and the TESTIMONIAL justice.
We loved the multiple lace choices for the TESTIMONIAL 4! Why did you choose to do that and why do you think that's important for players of any sport to be able to express themselves?
Well, I think that was just a reflection of me, bro – like really trying to tell the two stories of my two worlds that I've lived in: the sports lane, but also the creative space. As an athlete, especially in my era, we were always told what to wear. You weren't allowed to wear certain things. When I played at the Warriors, some years we would travel to Australia and we would look like a New Zealand geography class and not the Warriors, you know what I mean? So for me, I wanted to be able to let the players express themselves individually and creatively. I feel like giving players a small thing, of just three different shoelaces, that's where the creativity starts.
How do you think your background in professional sports shapes your work in the fashion industry?
I’m a point of difference. I think I'm probably – I could be wrong – one of a handful that gave it a red-hot go, and transitioned from professional sports to the fashion lane. But at the same time I also take a lot of parallels from sport that I can add to the fashion lane. A lot of people ask me, ‘Are you career-driven?’ But for me, my two passions just turned into my career.
People [ask], ‘Did you go to design school? Did you study?’ But I never did. The way I educated myself was through shopping, feeling fabric. I was massive into internet shopping, and when we travelled the world for the Kiwis I would always go to the big department stores and touch and feel garments, and see silhouettes. So you start to teach yourself over time. And then when it came time to walk away [from rugby], I said to myself, I'd rather fail at something I wanted to do than something I didn't want to do. And having a clothing business is not necessarily something I've always wanted to do, but it was the most natural thing at the time, that I felt like I could be just as passionate about. Because if I wasn't, then it would feel like work to me.
I just hope that I can be a voice for people that want to be creative, that've been told for a long time to be quiet and to dream smaller – or they can't dream, you know what I mean? But I'm literally evidence that you don't have to be a superstar to get the projects in the world. It's about your work ethic, about how far you're willing to take that, and how willing you are to dedicate yourself to a project.
This campaign is so family oriented. Does it feel vulnerable putting yourself and your family out there for the world to see?
Yeah, of course! I'll be super honest, bro: I didn't grow up with much, and there were times where I didn't have boots, we didn't have power and stuff like that, toilet paper, you know? But when you strip all the materialistic stuff away, the core things I had was love from a single mum, and I had two grandparents that supported me and still believe in me. They let me dream as big as I could and made me realise I did belong. Then I had a sister that was a little bit older than me, but she was my best mate. And at the end of the day, I knew the story that we had at home – I was just telling a normal story of a little boy that had a dream. I just took it home to reconnect with my people, reconnect my family, and help me heal from my dad's situation.
I look through a different lens, to be honest with you. I look through the lens of my mum. She’s nearly 60. And over the last week, she opens up Instagram and sees her mum on ASICS’ profile, at the age of 90, smiling her face off. That's something that you can't even bottle up, you can't even put in perspective. That's something that you just have to be able to work towards. And the coolest thing about this whole thing is that my family only knows me as a rugby league player. They knew this little boy had a big imagination, but they didn't know he had an imagination like this. So, it's a cool space for our family to be in at the moment, and I'm so appreciative. Not just for them, but also my rugby league family, the Riccarton Knights, for allowing me to come into their space again – a space that I shared so much of my life in. And also my family to allow me to go back home in the community of Belfast, to empower me to have the confidence and the belief that I could do this project, and do it justice, and pull it home, and show the vulnerability and the realness. We're living in a day and age now where there's so much AI, and all I wanted to get out of this was for people to feel like when they watch that video, see a photo, or hear the storyline, to pick up the phone to call their family, or want to go home and just tell each other they love each other.
We're living in a world where there's so much chaos, so much negativity, so much war. But then you hop on your phone and you see this – this is raw, this real content about home. About this boy being vulnerable about suicide, about reconnecting, about healing, about family. About footy, and exiting footy. You know, all I wanted to do, bro, was just open that door that had never been opened before – for an ex-footy player, an ex-athlete, just to realise that that door is open now and you can walk through.
Can you break down the subtle details which you included in each of these shoes?
On the GEL-CUMULUS 16
The mesh looks back to the GT-2160 ‘Ngāwari’. In my old space – the rugby league space, or any sports space – you're always told when you're given a jersey that you're not the owner of it. All you're doing is respecting the past, but you're leaving it in a better place, once you’ve worn it, for the future to come. And for me, if it wasn't for ‘Ngāwari’, this shoe wouldn't be alive. So the way I treat ‘Ngāwari’, I treat it like a person, because that was the pioneer for this unity to go on with ASICS. And once again, that shoe allowed us to have the power to put the flag in the ground and go, ‘This is where we're starting. This is our journey. This is our partnership with ASICS moving forward.’ And this is our reason to go from one shoe, to be able to do two shoes. I'm a big believer, too: You should always respect the past.
Then, the grained material on the Tiger Stripes. So my mum, she's been a butcher her whole life – she’s worn overalls her whole life. So that was a reflection of her working with meats – a massive ode to her. She's always been my rock in my life. On the other side, the Tiger Stripe turns into full brown. That brown wraps around and covers this side because I was only raised with one side of my family, and it's the Brown side. And whether it was positive or negative, every single one of them – they know who they are, the ones with the last name ‘Brown’ – they were the ones who, sometime along the way, they allowed me to dream. They allowed me to have the space to dream, they gave me the belief. So it was an ode to my extended family, just to say ‘thank you’.
Then we go to the carpet of the insole. I think I probably picked this up from our first shoe. For me, this carpet represents so much. This carpet represents, when it was raining outside, that little boy was playing knee rugby on the carpet. You know what I mean? I also want people that wear the shoe, that no matter what pavement or where they walk in this world, they can feel like they've got a little bit of home with them.
I think the coolest thing about this, bro, is we gifted Stephen Crichton from the Bulldogs [a pair], and he pulled his out… [and] his grandparents had the same carpet! And the amount of people that have reached out to me since we've released this, the amount of people with the same carpet, bro, like, it's an emotional attachment straight away. So for me, it's so beautiful.
It's just the details I love – and in rugby league as well, bro. Everyone thinks it's the big plays, but it's the small things that mean so much to a team. And it's the small things that mean so much to me as well.
The orange, that's the connection between the two shoes, and obviously the connection with the home as well.
On the LETHAL TESTIMONIAL 4
I'll start off with the design process and why I chose this route. As a little boy, bro, there wasn't such a thing as a white boot. It was only black boots. At the age of four, I wrote down that I wanted to become a professional regular league player – as my goal, as my dream. I never wanted to be anything else. And you couldn't physically touch white boots. You couldn't even see them. They only appeared on TV, magazines, or you know, a glimpse on your hero's feet. So the only way I could feel them and touch them was to imagine them. Back then, your boots inside your imagination, they were like a Ferrari.
So for the design process, I really wanted to take myself back to that – that little boy who had this massive dream. This world felt so far away, but little did he know that he was on the journey. I really wanted to design it through what that little boy wanted – and he wanted white boots! Then, probably one of my favourite parts which links the shoes, is the back – the grained, black material. That's a representation of my mum as well. She’s always had my back. The strongest part of your foot, if you want to move forward – or ever, in life – is your Achilles heel. And my mum is the Achilles heel. I wouldn't be out where I am without her, today. Her and my pop were there in the cold, frosty mornings in Christchurch, those hailing, windy nights in Christchurch, that training at Crosby Park. That's why I wanted this to be an ode to her, because she sacrificed so much for me. I was never guaranteed to play in the NRL. She told me, ‘Son, when you hop on that plane to go to Australia, you haven't lived the dream. You're going to work for your dream. It hasn't started yet – this is just the beginning.’
Basically, before the big stadiums, before the Sun Corps, before the Wembley Stadiums, before the Old Traffords, there was a little place called Rugby League Park at Addington Showgrounds in Christchurch. And to me as a little boy, bro, that was where my personal local heroes touched the ground. That was the bright lights, the big arena for me. I played many games there, and many of my heroes played there, and it’s an ode back to the people that helped raise me in that space. Then we go to the box, and that's my top house of my actual rugby league clubhouse.
The two shoes can stand in one space and still speak to each other. They're two different-looking shoes, but if they sat beside each other, I wanted someone that knew about sneakers to understand that they talk to each other. I don't know how I did it, but intuition sometimes takes you to that place, you know?
What's next for you and Earls Collection? What are you excited about for the future?
Just to keep dreaming big, bro. I think this project has really taught me that there are no limitations to life. It's about turning up for yourself and making sure you're a good human. I'm always a big believer in ‘you get back what you put out’, and I was raised to have good morals. You're never better than anyone else, you're never above anyone else – you’re always beside each other.
I've done my first-ever footy boot, so I'd like to do a second one. But I guess we'll leave that in ASICS’ court. I think for me, I've got the tick of approval from this, and from them.
And I love the relationship that we have with ASICS. The relationship that Earls has with ASICS, it really reminds me of me and my grandfathers – because they're the older and wiser human that is taking this young brand on a journey with them, and opening up doors for them that they've never had before, so that they can tell a story. They're great humans, and you know, they didn't have to give me an opportunity. I owe everything to them, bro. They chose to email me and handpick me because they saw something in me that I probably didn't see in myself. I owe a lot to them. I'm so grateful, bro. I'm not your typical fashion guy – I don't think I'm killing it. I don't think this, I don't think that. I'm just an everyday human, bro. Just trying to do what’s best for me.
https://www.sneakerfreaker.com/features/lewi-brown-earls-collection-asics-interview
