Nike Magista Brings New Life To Football Shoes

"Using Flyknit can make football shoes feel like barefoot."

"When we ask those athletes," what is the most perfect sneaker in your dream, "they answer" barefoot, but with spikes ".

"It allows athletes to perform more possibilities, including its lightweight design, minimal distraction, and second foot skin like feet."

The three answers came from Phil McCartney, vice president of Nike athletic footwear department, Nike brand President Trevor Edwards and Nike group president and CEO Mark Parker. They appeared at the March 6, 2014 Nike Barcelona conference to promote the most heavyweight product in the history of Nike football. The Magista sneakers, dubbed together with Spanish "magic" and "attack organizer", have multiple meanings for the company: as non sponsors, they will launch enough effective marketing before the Brazil world cup to enhance the level of product Flyknit used before, and, more importantly, redefine soccer shoes.

Before Magista, Flyknit was also used in basketball shoes, which was released in January 2014 on KOBE 9 Elite basketball shoes, but Nike did not hold a similar press conference for the launch.

From the history of the company's products, football shoes are not the strength of Nike. Looking at the innovation process of football shoes, you will find that the early Adidas world. Nike started from running, so many technologies were first used for running, and then constantly adjusted to apply it in other fields. After all, running is more straight forward, while soccer and basketball involve more complicated movements.

However, Mark Parker repeatedly stressed that Nike did not design Magista for the purpose of applying Flyknit. "At Nike, we can design unusual products because we listen to the voice of the most gifted athletes." Mark Parker told first financial weekly. This is the thirty-fifth year since he joined Nike. In the whole 1980s, Nike relied on the close ties with professional athletes to gain market share from Adidas, Puma and other European shoe manufacturers. Nike is obsessed with the scene that she once had. When Adidas's Marketing Commissioner carries a briefcase full of cash and travels in a hotel dressed in a suit, Nike employees are training with them for morning running.

This has also become a classic way for Nike to promote products. The company refuses to use any spokesperson who has nothing to do with sports, such as entertainment stars and fashion people. Their product promotion usually has two main points: one is to emphasize helping the sports stars to improve their performance, the other is to inspire ordinary people's athletic potential.

A week ago, a spy video about the upcoming new shoes was circulating on the Internet. In the video, Spanish soccer player Andre Iniesta and German player Ge TSE exchanged a pair of full play shoes in the fitting room, trying to do some simple warm-up exercises, and some went to the football field for training. "It feels like a sock." Iniesta said to the camera in the video, and Ge TSE's evaluation was "unbelievable".

On the day of the launch, Iniesta held a pair of fluorescent green football shoes in front of the declining projection screen. This pair of shoes has no tongue, and the integrated knitted vamp extends to the ankles, forming a high side design, and the vamp shows a regular geometric pattern with the aid of knitting technology. "This is an unprecedented design. High football boots only appeared in 1920s, and were made of leather at that time. The reason why we adopt high leverage is the superiority of Flyknit. Phil McCartney told the first financial weekly.

These designs are believed to revolutionize football players' sports experience. At present, the Magista is aimed at the organizer of the attack because it is light and thin, resulting in better fit. Therefore, athletes can concentrate on their feet and not be distracted by shoes. This is very important for the core players who are committed to passing the ball. "It fits the foot very well, it can achieve a very fine touch feeling, but at the same time, the sole design can give you enough support. It can connect the legs, ankles and feet perfectly. " Trevor Edwards said.

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One of the coaches at the bar's training camp also showed appreciation for the shoes. "The performance of a football player on the pitch 99% depends on the level of the players. The quality of the shoes is 1%. Of course, 1% is also very important in the world cup, which is full of top players. I think Magista is for those top 99% players who already have the ability.

Iniesta first learned from the top players of Iniesta and Ge TSE that football matches were very different from before. Similar to "barefoot but with spikes", Nike asked Flyknit to connect with football shoes.

In the spy video of Magista, the person who tries to wear the shoes to the big stars and asks them how they feel is Denis Dekovic, Nike football design director. He was still very excited about the video taken over 1 years ago at the press conference. "You can imagine that when we come to their fitting rooms and take out Magista from their backpacks, no matter what their reaction is, finally, almost everyone will ask," can I take these shoes back? "We can only say," not yet. " Denis Dekovic told first financial weekly.

The similar test process has gone through more than 25 rounds in Magista from its establishment to its publication. From top to top athletes, almost every Denis Dekovic and his team will make changes based on the feedback provided by athletes, make new prototypes and sample shoes, and try them on for athletes.

This is why Nike spent 4 years to launch Magista, and the optical test took 3000 hours. According to Dekovic, nearly 100 teams from different departments, including design, R & D, testing and marketing, participated in this pair of shoes, spanning 23 countries.

Dekovic has led Nike's soccer design team and Innovation Kitchen to cooperate. The latter is a prestigious "special force" inside Nike, which is a rare forbidden place for Nike's internal staff and most visitors. The innovation kitchen is equivalent to Nike's future technology research and development center. One member told the first financial weekly that the team of 100 people is now carrying out projects from 2016 to 2020. Every six months, the kitchen will meet with Mark Parker to summarize the innovation projects in the past six months, and then make plans for the second half of the year. "Despite the eventual failure of 90% of the projects, Mark Parker still gives us great support. We are looking at the great potential of 10%." The member said. In the past, people often used JORDAN basketball shoes to introduce its significance to Nike. In the future, JORDAN's position will be rewritten by Flyknit, which was born 10 years ago.

McCartney recalled the first pair of Magista prototype shoes he saw in 2010. It looked like "ugly". Although Flyknit has been used, it appears to be light and abundant but not practical. Nevertheless, he saw hope in these humble prototype shoes. "We are all used to it. This is the only way for the birth of a great product." McCartney said. The reason for his confidence is still the feedback from professional athletes. Despite the shortcomings of these shoes, the touch and cohesion they described made McCartney believe that everything is moving in the right direction.

"It feels like a sock." Iniesta said to the camera in the video.

It was not until 2012 that Gao Gang design and NIKESKIN technology were applied to these shoes that all problems could be solved.

McCartney denied that it was a brilliant flash of a designer, but this idea still seemed very talented. "We found that we could not only design a pair of football shoes for athletes' feet. Football is more than just kicking. It is the power of the whole body passing through the leg to the ankle, then to the foot. Gao Gang designs a seamless connection between the ball and the athletes. Dekovic said.

But at first, Nike's Flyknit shoes were complained by many athletes that it made football shoes hard to wear. In order to design the most reasonable degree of tightness and height, the design team of Nike football Department has made countless models of different sizes to do experiments, and finally determine the height and texture of Magista.

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If you look closely, you will find that every part of the whole Magista is full of details, and every detail points to a specific function in the football game.

Compared with running shoes, Magista's vamp is especially layered and distinct because of its 3D weaving technology. This is the first time that 3D weaving has been applied to football shoes. The purpose is to increase friction and help players more accurately control and dribble. Because traditional football shoes rely on the stitching of multi level vamp to get friction, the result increases the distance between the foot and the ball. Nike has made hundreds of improvements to the 3D weaving pattern that eventually appeared on Magista. In addition, there is a special NIKESKIN on the upper part of the ankle. The thickness of the material is less than 0.1 millimeters, even thinner than the paper, but it is strong and tough. It can provide more protection and adapt to more environmental needs, especially waterproof, which is integrated with Flyknit vamp. This is very important for football. Bourriau cable (Brio Cables) technology has also been used in this pair of shoes. Its principle is similar to suspension bridges, and some special yarns are directly woven into integrated upper vamp, then connected to the outsole through keyhole, providing more protection in fierce competition.

Whether it's 3D or NIKESKIN, and the unique design of the high side, Nike's focus is on how to ensure the Flyknit's lightweight but also provide enough friction and protection for football players. "What we do on Magista is to make technical improvements to Flyknit so that they can be applied to football shoes, with the aim of redefining the category of football shoes." McCartney said.

In the eyes of frog design creative director Mark Weedon, this repeated testing, modification, and then a specific R & D mode for a specific field is the key to Nike's disruptive impact. "Flyknit is actually not a new concept. As early as the third Century ad, Egyptians began weaving shoes with threads. What Nike does is to combine this handicraft with modern technology, apply it to traditional manufacturing industry, and constantly improve it, so that it can be applied to different fields. This is an innovation oriented design rather than a design oriented innovation. " Weedon told the first financial weekly.

The pair of shoes, which have been tested in the 25 round, will usher in the final test in the June 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Iniesta and Ge CE have confirmed that they will wear Magista to the stadium. And Trevor Edwards revealed that there will be a larger marketing plan. He is very clear about the target group of these unprecedented football shoes. "If they are professional athletes, they are young and creative attacking organizers. They do not defend in games. They know that they are in the position to use creativity to organize attacks. If it's an ordinary person, it's probably the football maniac who loves to play football on the pitch! "Trevor Edwards said.

For Nike, a company based on professional athletes, the world cup is an important moment to establish emotional ties with soccer fans all over the world. After all, Magista is eventually placed in Nike stores in the world and sold to ordinary people in daily life. Nike has set up 10 teams for the Brazil World Cup. Besides Magista, there will be other products and marketing plans before the competition.

Mark Parker said he could not wait to see Magista's performance in the Brazil World Cup. "This summer, when the world's top players wear these shoes to the arena, football will be overturned." According to Nike's plan, Magista is just beginning, and Flyknit will be applied to more categories in the future, perhaps combining with customization. Nike's mastery of this technology will gradually mature, and more different yarns and weaving methods are being experimented.

"I once thought that there were more opportunities and potential in the sports shoes market 30 years ago, but Flyknit has proved that now we have the opportunity to redefine a pair of sneakers. As a leader of a company, when you focus on the future instead of your competitors, you will find that there are too many opportunities ahead of you. " Parker said.