“Mbappe Feature: Nike Officially Releases Air Zoom Mercurial Superfly X and Vapor XVI X Mbappe!”
The ‘Blueprint Pack,’ consisting of the next-gen Air Zoom Mercurial Superfly X and Vapor XVI, has been spotted on pitches at Euro 2024 and Copa America, and now Nike has officially launched them.
In April, Nike introduced the brand new Air Zoom Mercurial sneaker in a nearly invisible cameo as part of a new Air-powered 13-product collection called the “Blueprint Pack.” This was our first glimpse at the sneaker. Fortunately, we weren’t left out. After that, there was complete quiet until the start of Euro 2024 and Copa America, when Vinicius Junior debuted the Vapor XVI and Kylian Mbappe wore the brand new Superfly X. After that, Nike formally releases the new boots, allowing us to have a good look at them.
The Dynamic Fit collar is the obvious differentiator between the Vapor and Superfly models, as we are all well aware. Everything else about this boot is same. So, what’s the latest on that boot? To begin, the Air Zoom strobel unit’s flex grooves were eliminated, speed fins were added to the boot’s forefoot, and the plate’s flexibility was optimized. By reducing the Flyknit upper’s thickness from five to three layers—a decrease of roughly 30 percent—Nike was able to create the lightest and thinnest entire Flyknit upper yet for Nike Football, while simultaneously making it more moldable to the foot. In addition, the Gripknit technology, which has been the highlight of innovation on the Phantom GX and Luna, is going to be introduced.
The color scheme of the pack is based on the work of Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman, who, in an effort to conserve weight, would “dot” a Swoosh on the side of his athletes’ spikes with a ballpoint pen. From a branding perspective, the “AIR” callout has moved from the side to the heel, bringing with it the charming “Mercurial” and “Air Zoom” callouts in a handwritten style. On the forefoot, you can still find the Swoosh, and on the soleplate, you can see the orange Air Zoom
