Ask any soccer player what they’re looking for in a cleat, and you’ll likely get the same response from them all: feel. Today Nike revealed its latest “innovation” with the Hypervenom, a boot built for agility.
Most interesting is NIKESKIN, which is composed of a hybrid mesh and polyurethane film, in addition to an all weather material. The claim is that the Hypervenom puts the player’s foot that much closer to the ball for a barefoot-like experience. Nike’s Football Design Director Denis Dekovic had this to say about NIKESKIN:
“Mesh delivers an amazing level of comfort and feel. The athletes asked us to deliver a boot that gets as close as possible to the feeling of playing barefoot,” Dekovic said. “Mesh takes us a step closer to doing that and the All Conditions Control finish keeps the mesh dry.”
In the last decade or so, football cleats have mostly been built for speed, which is why there have been many a lightweight boot from everyone in the space. But the Hypervenom is supposedly different and is meant to somehow be more agile, giving players even better ball control.
Aside from the new upper is a new last, the most anatomical to date, Nike says, putting the foot closer to the ground. Other tweaks were made to the outsole and stud configuration as well. But all those seem very iterative when compared to the new upper.
Is the Hypervenom all marketing and flash or is it the real deal? It’s hard to say but we’ll find out soon when we’ve had a chat with the designers at Nike.
[Nike]