Soccer Cleats 101 Soccer Cleats News and Reviews
Nike is back with a new revolutionary piece of technology, added to their already innovative boot line up. each of Nike’s four football boot styles —Hypervenom, Magista, Mercurial and Tiempo – have been fitted with Nike Tech Craft across the forefoot.
For most of us, leather on a boot has always been the way to go, and Nike has a soft spot for using materials that offer the most natural touch on the ball. Exploring the idea of fusing leather to Nike’s iconic football silhouettes began in 2014. Flyknit and Dynamic Fit collars matched with leather quickly evolved into experimentation and, ultimately, this premium collection of hybrid leather boots.
Find everything Tech Craft currently listed at Soccer.com.
The application of leather to the upper delivers a responsive touch on the ball. But how do you add a leather to knit materials, keeping it together as one? Well, great care was taken by Nike to ensure the softness of the leather was not compromised as it was fused onto the upper. The footwear team leveraged a balance of oils to offset the steam and prevent the leather from stiffening. Nike All Conditions Control was integrated into the process to provide enhanced ball control in both dry and wet conditions.
“This was a daunting project, as each of our boots have quite different uppers. The challenges of fusing leather onto Flyknit and loft mesh required numerous prototypes and various methods of application before we cracked the code,”
VanHook credits the design team’s ability to marry classic craftsmanship with modern methodologies as the key to making the Nike Tech Craft vision a reality.
“We cobble by pixel, working with sketch books and sandblasters but also lasers and computer programs. We needed every one of the tools available to us to bring Tech Craft to life.”
Nike Tech Craft is available via the Nike Football App and they will be released August 13 on Nike.com. Edinson Cavani, Alexis Sanchez and Blaise Matuidi will wear Nike Tech Craft boots on pitch.
