Brendan Dunne 
Nike’s rich history of football/soccer footwear hasn’t too often expanded beyond its original purposes to really take hold in the lifestyle realm. Part of that has to do with the fact that soccer boots don’t really translate for off-pitch wear thanks to the hindrance of those cleats along the bottom. On top of that, there’s the fact that soccer just isn’t too big of a deal here in the US, so the footwear from that world doesn’t have a built-in significance for Yankees. 2014 has seen plenty of models working to reverse that trend though, among them the reborn Nike Tiempo ’94 and the innovation-rich Nike Free Mercurial Superfly HTM seen here.
While the sneaker is an obvious echo of the new Nike Mercurial Superfly that’s been rolled out ahead of the 2014 World Cup, calling it a “take down” doesn’t really to the shoe justice. The model, created by the design minds of Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tinker Hatfield, and Mark Parker, features all sorts of performance detailing like the Flyknit upper, the Flywire cables, the Dynamic Fit collar, and the Nike Free 5.0 outsole along the bottom. The sneakers made their debut as part of Nike’s new Nike Lab project this week, and have unfortunately already disappeared at retail. Continue reading for a rare closer look at the Nike Free Mercurial Superfly HTM and stay tuned to Sneaker News to find out whether or not this model will be a Swoosh mainstay for this World Cup summer.
Nike Free Mercurial Superfly HTM
Color: Black/Dark Grey-White
Style Code: 667978-001
Price: $200
