Nike's Problem With The Dynamic Fit Collar
Various of Nike's high-profile players are wearing customized Nike Football Boots with a lower Dynamic Fit collar, low-cut versions of the Nike Magista, Nike Hypervenom and Nike Nike Mercurial or even cut off the sock of their boots. We take a detailed look at Nike's problem with the revolutionary Dynamic Fit collar.
In May 2014, Nike introduced the totally new Dynamic Fit collar with the cutting-edge Nike Magista Obra and Nike Mercurial Superfly Boots to make a bold statement in the 2014 World Cup, and to showcase that the US-giant is the most revolutionary sportswear brand.
Players with a lower Dynamic Fit collar
Close-up picture of Cristiano Ronaldo's custom Nike Mercurial Superfly Lightning Storm Pack Boots.
There are only few players on the planet who receive modified Nike Soccer Cleats, exclusively handcrafted in Nike's famous boot factory in Montebelluna, Italy. So it's only logical that Cristiano Ronaldo, who had major problems with the Dynamic Fit collar ahead of the 2014 World Cup, directly received a heavily modified version of the Nike Mercurial Superfly Football Shoes after he cut off the collar of his boots.
Neymar is another player who laced up in modified Nike Boots with a lower Dynamic Fit collar, even though the Brazilian superstar frequently changes his boots and recently even received a completely modified Nike Soccer Cleat featuring a never-seen-before hybrid design fusing the Nike Hypervenom Phantom I (upper), Nike Hypervenom Phantom II (Dynamic Fit collar, design) and the Nike Tiempo Legend sole plate.
However, it's a rather the exception than the norm that players receive such heavily modified cleats, and it's much more likely that players opt for the low-cut versions of the boots.
Players Who Wear Low-Cut Nike Boots
Rooney x Nike Hypervenom Phinish.
It's logical that Nike's aim is that every player wears the revolutionary version of Nike's Boots featuring the trademark Dynamic Fit collar. However, nearly the half of Nike's top players are wearing the traditional versions of the Nike Soccer Boots.
For example, Andres Iniesta introduced the revolutionary Nike Magista Obra Boots ahead of the 2014 World Cup, but switched to the low-cut Nike Magista Opus Shoes in March 2015. (We even think that it is almost certain that Iniesta's performances wearing the Nike Magista Opus Cleats are far better than with the Nike Magista Obra.)
After the cover athlete switched to "second-best" version of the Nike Magista Cleats, Mario Götze became the global face of the Nike Magista Obra. And even though Götze scored the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup Final against Argentina, the German youngster is often not even in Bayer Munich's starting line-up.
So let's see which of Nike's best players are wearing the low-cut versions of the boots (via www.footballbootsdb.com)
Nike Hypervenom: Wayne Rooney, Pedro, Isco, Harry Kane, Kurt Zouma, Mario Mandžukić, Gonzalo Higuaín, Ross Barkley, Gerard Deulofeu
Nike Magista: Andrés Iniesta, Thibaut Courtois, Michael Carrick, Raphaël Varane, Arda Turan, John Terry, Sergio Busquets, Javier Mascherano, Medhi Benatia, James Milner, Sami Khedira
Nike Mercurial: Eden Hazard, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Douglas Costa, Philippe Coutinho, Luka Modrić, Mateo Kovačić, Daniel Alves, Raheem Sterling, Franck Ribéry, Martin Ødegaard, Willian, Carlos Bacca
It's quite obvious to see that various star players prefer the traditional boot design over Nike's Dynamic Fit collar. Therefore, the US-giant started to push the low-cut versions of their boots after they virtually concealed that they even exist in the first months. For example, Nike released a unique Eden Hazard Nike Mercurial Vapor 10 to celebrate his PFA Player of the Year award.
But there are even players who manually cut off the collar of their boots, which is something Nike do not want at all.
Players who cut off the Dynamic Fit collar
Arturo Vidal cut off the collar of his right shoe.
Nike's biggest problem is an actual phenomenon. Recently, various players have been spotted with a cut-off Dynamic Fit collar after Nike introduced the collar to the Nike Hypervenom Phantom Boots.
Nike athletes such as Isco, Thiago Alcantara, Arturo Vidal and Kovacic cut off the collar of their boots. However, as there is nothing worse than players who manually change the fundamental parts of their 275 USD boots, they switch to the standard low-cut versions of each silo very quickly.
Revolution or just marketing? Let us know what you think of Nike's Dynamic Fit collar in the comments section below.
