Customs and Concepts: footballfactoryita

If you’re familiar with the rise of former Nike and now current Adidas designer Denis Dekovic, you’ll probably know that he started out; as a young man with an idea. In 1994 he submitted some ideas for basketball shoes (of all things) to Nike, but was rebuffed, as Nike “does not accept designs from outside the company…”. Undeterred, he continued designing and actually ended up designing the worlds first laceless soccer boot the Lotto Zhero Gravity Ultra, before embarking on the well documented career with Nike and now Adidas.

The reason for that brief introduction is that 2015 saw the rise of custom boot designers on Instagram. There’s every potential that the next generation of boot designers could come from this crop of customizers. It’s that notion which sees this first edition of “Customs:”, a series dedicated to profiling the works of some of the best customizers on Instagram.

This inaugural edition of Customs: will feature a selection of custom designs from Instagrammer footballfactoryita.

1. Hypervenom Phantom II “Multicolor Flyknit “

What would happen if you swapped the Flyknit upper from the Mercurial Superfly with the NikeSkin upper from the Hypervenom Phantom? Well you hope it’d be something like this. The multicolor flyknit pattern just fits the Hypervenom like a glove don’t you think? When you consider that the Tech Craft package added k-leather across the Nike line, a Flyknit offering for the Hypervenom isn’t all that crazy.

2. Nike Vapor X Concept Colorway

In a world of technicolor sometimes all you need are some solid colours to create a dandy looking boot. Which is what you have here, the silver-grey, black and red combination is so smooth it should be an option for the Vapor X.

3. New Balance Visaro Fit Collar Concept

Now this is interesting! Everyone seems to be embracing the collared look these days, and here New Balance’s control boot (and if we’re being honest, only serviceable boot) gets the collar treatment and it looks quite fetching, how would it stand up in game? Maybe one day New Balance will let us have a chance to see.

4. Nike Mercurial Superfly IV CR7 SX Tribute

A throw back to 2011 and the CR7 Mercurial Vapor Superfly III. It wasn’t the most popular CR7 release, personally I thought it was a stunner, but much like every CR7 release it sold without a problem. The different lines scattered all over the boot made it one of the first boots to market which reminded me of ‘naval camouflage’ from back in the First and Second World Wars. Nike has history of bringing back certain colorways with their “Fast Forward” collection, so why can’t it be a consideration for their biggest name?

5. Nike Mercurial Superfly IV Acid Lime

Despite my pre-disposition to heritage styled boots at times, I am a sucker for two colours on boots pink and lime green. So this lime green offering is a beaut, and features several colors from Nike’s popular 2015 Women’s World Cup package. While I’m not a subscriber to the Church of the Mercurial, I can confirm that if this was a release boot, I’d definitely wear it.

BONUS: Nike Mercurial Veloce Custom

What’s better than being an artist on Instagram? Being an artist in real life. Here footballfactoryita gives a look into the boots he wears on the daily and how they’ve been given their own special customization with the sharpie. It’s a pretty sweet look too, kind of reminds me of lava and volcanic rock. Definite talent on display here.

You can find more footballfactoryita customs over on Instagram. Stay tuned for future installments, and feel free to leave a comment with your favourite design from footballfactoryita; or perhaps someone we should be on the lookout for in the Customs world.