Lightweight Engineered Craftsmanship - Hulk's Mizuno Morelia Neo
From inception to craft, the journey of an elite football boot is a precise process. To furnish an athlete with a value of millions and watched by an audience to match, leaves little-to-no margin of error for football shoe manufacturers. One such brand - Mizuno - have given us a unique insight into the construction of their elite footwear...
This behind-the-scenes and exploratory video pulls back the curtain on the arduous process that goes into making Mizuno's elite products. Plotting the journey from the moment the footwear is designed, to the moment it is developed, crafted and refined. It takes innovative minds, skilled craftsmen and a lot of time to deliver what we see on pitch.
Strong, fast and dexterous, Brazilian forward Hulk is the athlete we see Mizuno creating football boots for here. An endorsed athlete, it is Mizuno's task to supply the tools-of-the-trade to Hulk - a privilege they of course pay for - and a challenge to the designers and craftsmen who strive to fuse innovation with function, in a competitive landscape creating unique, wearable, eye-catching and performance-delivering footwear.
This video provides us with just a glimpse into the extensive development needed for a modern football boot. Aside from the rough sketched imaginings of a designer, and the skilled craftsmanship in building the physical product, there are many layers in the process. In the early stages insights come from players, managers and physios from around the globe to initially concept a boot, from here the boot designs becomes a CAD drawing so it is built in three dimensions on screen, before being built into a physical sample to be play tested.
A quite revealing video from Mizuno, but one that realizes the extensive process and life-cycle of a football boot. For us this is a cool insight into the football industry; footwear is an essential piece of equipment in the sport, and there are many hundreds of individuals and many hundreds of man hours dedicated to what's worn on the feet of footballers around the globe.
It's infrequent we get to see the inner workings of the 'boot industry' bared for all to see. Let us know what you think and share your opinions online, on twitter and on facebook.
