As a football-obsessed 12 year-old in the Brasilian coastal
city of Santos, Neymar Jr. would spray paint his football boots gold. Now Nike
has created a stunning new gold version of the Brasilian star's Hypervenom
boots for him to wear during the rest of the tournament.
The boot will be available on www.nike.com from June 26th.
The boot will be available on www.nike.com from June 26th.
The original Hypervenom Phantom boot was launched by Neymar
Jr. in Rio de Janeiro in May 2013 and made an immediate mark when he lit up his
home country in the Confederations Cup.
“When we met with Neymar he told us that when he was 12 he
used to spray paint his boots gold. He said that he always wanted a pair of
gold boots but that he couldn’t find them anywhere. So we took that insight and
decided this summer would be the perfect moment to create this boot for him,”
said Denis Dekovic, Nike Football Design Director.
“The biggest challenge was getting the gold tone perfect so
it had the right spray-painted look," Dekovic said. "We worked
closely with Neymar to get it as close to how he remembered the color when he
would apply it as a kid. We’re all delighted with the results and can’t wait to
see it on pitch.”
This special version of the Hypervenom Phantom features a
unique sock-liner detail of a gold spray paint can and the Hypervenom boot
graphic .
The Nike Football design team created the Hypervenom by
first looking at trends among strikers in today’s game.
“The Nike Hypervenom is a response to the way the game is
changing. Players want to be quicker, not just in a foot race, but quicker with
the ball at their feet in small spaces. They need to create chances from
nothing. The Hypervenom was designed to help combat today's faster defenders by
allowing strikers that extra split-second in the box," said Dekovic.
