World Cup Boot Colorways – Q&A

When Adidas officially unveiled the Battle Pack colorways that their players would wear in Brazil, the response was a bit more negative than they anticipated. And I can also say that the Puma Tricks vibrant blue and pink also drew mixed reviews. So perhaps there are better colorways that should be featured instead in the World Cup. We all have our own personal opinions, so I called on fellow writers Jim and Richard to voice their opinions and which colorways they would prefer to see.

Please remember that this is an opinion piece, and everyone is entitled to their own viewpoint.

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Adidas Battle Pack

The Adidas Battle Pack definitely received a lot of negative response. Why do you think this release went over so big? Last, which pack would you rather see in the World Cup?

Jim: Out of the big three adidas is the most off beat. They have done pretty nice in the past especially with the earth pack and the Samba pack. Having said that I expected all the colorways to be bright and eye catching so adidas may have stuck out by not sticking out with some outlandish colorways and sticking to a basic black and white. It really does remind me of the CR7 Safari colorway, so I’m actually sort of surprised it didn’t go over better. However I would have liked to see the Samba Pack used rather than the Battle Pack simply because it pays tribute to Brazilian culture and makes more sense with the setting.

Richard: Like most people I am not a fan of the Battle Pack design. My reasons for disliking the Battle Pack colourway are twofold. The first is that it’s such an unexpected departure from standard Adidas World Cup colourways. Adidas have generally offered more conservative colourways for the World Cup . In 2010 the Adidas World Cup colourway was a simple black and yellow, which looks positively timeless compared to this go around. My second reason for opposing the Battle Pack is financial, since January Adidas have released three prior ‘World Cup’ colourways, the Samba Pack, the Carnival Pack, and the Earth pack; all colourways with their inspiration drawn from, that’s right, you guessed it Brasil! If you were to buy the Adidas adipure 11pro’s (chosen as it’s the most economical top tier Adidas boot) in every new colourway you’d have spent $660 since January, maybe I’m being a bit miserly but that’s a MENTAL amount of money to spend on boots in 5 months.

Verdict: Adidas started with a decent idea to stand out, but it ended up slightly outlandish. The Samba pack or even the Earth pack would both be better Brazil inspired options.

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Puma Tricks

Puma has definitely thought outside the box with the color contrasting designs! Do you like the idea of having a different colorway for each foot? Also, which evospeed/evopower colorway would you rather see or are the Tricks your personal favorite?

Jim: I have a soft spot for puma and their creative designs they whip up for their boots. I really do like the Tricks though I would have liked to see them use more colors between ranges rather than have the different ranges all have the same color. Their boots will probably be easier to spot but at the same time it will be a tad bit harder to pick apart evospeeds from evoPower, however I am left wondering what will happen with the Puma King. When it is all said, I look forward to seeing this round of Tricks in action.

Richard: There’s something cool, progressive, hip about the Big Cat, so I’m not surprised they pulled something like this out their bag of tricks. It sends a message to other boot companies that no matter how cool you think you can make your boots look, chances are Puma can make them look cooler. So I suppose in short I’d take the Tricks colourway over any of the other evoSPEED/evoPOWER colourways.

Verdict: The Tricks colorways from Puma is a good one. The creative design speaks to boot lovers and is uniquely different from everything else. Puma has set the bar high and it seems to be a favorite for Jim and Richard.

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Nike World Cup Collection

According to readers, the Nike Summer Collection has the best colorways that will be showcased in Brazil. Do you agree? And if you had to pick a different collection over this one, which would it be?

Jim: I really do disagree with the readers, this collection is the laziest attempt out of the big three companies and I feel sorry for all of those who think these actually stand out. I am left disappointing as it seems like nike are doing the same old thing as usual. It is a simple reversal to their initial summer 2014 colorways that they released this March, the fact that the Nike fan boys will be clamoring over these colorways makes me laugh to myself as it is so very similar to what they just released a few months ago. It makes me feel like the design team at nike all took a day off and to save time decided to just flip flop some colors around. I would say I would rather like to see something like the Clash collection but that itself was already similar to the 2010 world cup boots. A whole new collection is called for in my opinion as I find the whole collection lazy, but being nike they are going to get snapped up by consumers anyway.

Richard: Honest opinion, Nike’s Summer Collection is kind of a bit meh, maybe it’s because the Magista Obra has been showcased for so long that the summer colourway doesn’t really seem summery now. I’d honestly prefer to see The Swoosh use the Mercurial WC Fast Forward colourway across their range in Brasil, because when I think Nike and World Cup I think colourways like those.

Verdict: Although many found this collection to be appealing, is it really something new? Jim had a controversial but valid point about the Summer collection. If you look at the two collections side by side, then there are some distinct similarities. Perhaps Nike could have gone with a bit more variation to stand out in this World Cup.

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Which World Cup Collection is your favorite? We want to know – tell us what you think in the comments below, or you can always find us on Twitter and Facebook.