The moment you break into a new pair of football boots on the pitch, that Ballon d’Or winner vibe might start seeping into you. If the new boots are particularly awesome you might even start feeling like the Asian counterpart to Messi or Ronaldo.
However, those same turf shoes just won’t have the same empowering effect at, say, the mall, or anywhere else where the functionality of said boots is negligible. It’s arguably a fashion disaster if you try to pair these boots with other pieces of attire you’d normally wear on a regular basis. Just imagine them in combination with a pair of regular jeans, football jersey and a drawstring bag slung over the body. The visual is just… eww.
Nike saw this as an opportunity and crafted the first hybrid sneakers by marrying the Nike Mercurial Superfly IV and Nike Free 5.0 outsole, with the NIKE FREE MERCURIAL SUPERFLY HTM through its innovation centre – NikeLab back in 2014. The results were more than satisfying; the silhouette flew off the shelves instantly and resell prices skyrocketed.
After that, Nike continued to release tons of football-inspired sneakers through various channels such as NikeLab and Nike FC. Nike accelerated the concept of performance-lifestyle sneakers with the likes of Free Mercurial Superfly, Magista Footscape, Tiempo Roshe, Free Hypervenom, Airmax R9 and Zoom Mercurial.
Nike Zoom Mercurial
Following in Nike’s footsteps, other players in the wider fashion industry also began to incorporate football culture that would eventually define a new style. A project between Japanese label SOPHNET and Nike, F.C. Real Bristol had been fusing both football and fashion together since 1999. Apart from that, collaboration between NikeLab and Olivier Rousteing paved the way for football to find influence in high fashion as well.
adidas caught on to this trend with the release of the ACE 16+ UltraBoost, which fuses the technologies of the BOOST foam and the latest addition to football boots, the ACE PURECONTROL. The result was an instant sensation on the market with a very limited release at European retailers.
Both brands are here to fill the gap in the market, with the result of creating a whole new audience and perspective on how people see performance sneakers on the streets. I bet that you will see more and more hybrid sneakers in the following years.
While adidas just rolled out their lifestyle version of the football boot, Nike has an upper hand as they introduced this element two years ago. Will adidas catch up soon or will Nike continue its lead? One thing is for sure; these hybrid sneakers definitely open up a whole new aspect to the scene and for consumers, it’s definitely a win-win.
