Revolutionary 3D-Printed Football Boots Leaked?
This could be the future of soccer cleats. Various images of a mysterious whiteout football boot have been doing the rounds on social media in the past few days. And while it is currently rumored that the mysterious boots are the first-ever 3D-Printed Football Boot from New Balance, we at Footy Headlines found out what they really are.
Who Created The Mysterious Soccer Cleats?
The mysterious boot was not created by a brand, but was made by 25-years old former professional footballer Sam Margetts in 2013 as a project in his second semester at the Auckland University of Technology (The boots are called Second Skin Football Boots). He stopped playing football at a professional level in July 2014 and currently works in the marketing department of soccer.com, who are using the same agency for their marketing campaigns as New Balance...
Second Skin Football Boots
These are the so-called Second Skin Football Boots.
Boasting a whiteout look, the Second Skin Football Boots are designed to gather the attention of anyone who is at least a bit interested in football boots. The Second Skin Prototype Soccer Cleat comes without any unneeded colorful elements in order to not distract from the actual product.
The second-skin football boot is aimed at football players of all ages and skill levels and takes "into consideration what a typical football player needs from a boot in order to maximize their potential in a game."
The product is designed to offer "a system that allows [all] players to custom fit the whole boot to the shape of their individual feet at home.", while non-professional footballers are currently forced to choose a boot that offers a fit that is 'close enough' to their specific foot shape. Sam Margetts goes into even more details on his blog to leave no questions open about the concept, which would be "easily translatable into other types of footwear where shoe response and comfort are critical to performance."
"The boot uses a similar concept and material to a boil and bite sports mouth guard where you are able to heat the shoes in warm water then, by simply tightening the laces and applying pressure to certain areas of you foot you are able to conform the inside of the boot to meet the exact specifications of your foot."
"Using this material means there is no longer any wear-in time required for footballers that suffer from blisters or excessive rubbing from new, stiff boots as the product offers a completely skin tight fit after the shaping process. Another benefit of this material is that, like a mouth guard it is shock absorbent. This means added protection from foot injuries that are a common occurrence in the game today. Other positive features of the material are that it is soft to the touch (increasing ball control), durable, lightweight and waterproof."
"An important aspect of performance in a football boot is obviously weight. To truly make this boot a performance-based product a seamless, 3D knitted polyester mesh sock has been developed to reinforce the outer forming material. This enables a thinner (lighter) layer of forming material to be used while remaining just as strong."
Could New Balance Be The First Brand Release The First-Ever 3D Printed Football Boot?
New Balance's first-ever running shoe with a 3D-printed midsole.
Yes, this is possible. While German brand Adidas revealed their first-ever 3D-printed running shoe in October 2015 and Nike unveiled the world's first 3D-printed performance sports bag ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, New Balance announced in November 2015 that they we will be launching the first high performance running shoe with a 3D-printed midsole. Interestingly, the structure of the midsole looks very similar to that one of the whiteout football boot prototypes.
"In 2013 we said this was the future of footwear manufacturing and today we are proud to bring the future to consumers with a fully 3D printed midsole," said New Balance President and CEO Robert DeMartini back in November. "With 3D printing we are able to pursue performance customization at a whole new level. The New Balance Innovation Team is showcasing the latest in performance running and these advancements signify an important step forward to becoming one of the world's top athletic brands."
Another strong indicator that New Balance could be the first brand to launch a 3D-Printed Soccer Boot is that Team NB football star Aaron Ramsey already wore a bespoke boot with printed plates in the FA Cup Final on May 30, 2015. And as the creator of the Second Skin Football Boot currently works as an author for soccer.com, who have a strong connection to New Balance as both are using the same agency for their marketing campaigns, it is even more likely that NB could be the first to launch 3D-printed boot.
This looks like the revolution we all waited for. Let us know what you thin about the 'First-Ever 3D-Printed Boot' in the comments below and check out all about the project on Sam Margetts' blog.
