Nike’s Magista 2 boot shows how technology can up your game

A pair of good shoes plays a crucial role in any athlete’s good performance. It’s equally, if not more true for the game of soccer. This is precisely the reason that hundreds of brands launch different soccer shoes every year to meet players’ requirements. Nike's latest flagship football boot, known as the Magista 2 belongs to the same league and according to the sports brand, the new model unlike the original that was launched in 2014 is fully driven by two years of research that included collecting athlete data and 3D-printed prototypes to build the design.

The shoe is 30 percent lighter than before thanks to a soleplate that Nike refurbished using a custom tool called Finite Element Analysis. The FEA system tests traction patterns to build an optimal base for the foot, allowing designers to configure key elements like the placement of studs. What made this scientific testing easier to turn into tangible form was 3D printing technology, says Nathan VanHook, senior design director of Nike Football. A prototyping process that in the past would have taken weeks or even months can now be done in a matter of hours.

According to VanHook, 3D printing gives you freedom to experiment. "You see things right away," he explains. "We can take the lever and say, 'Let's see what the most extreme is,' and are able to prototype and iterate superfast." Put simply, VanHook says, 3D printing has sped up Nike's innovation process tenfold. He says there's no reason to wait to cut metal tooling or mold something anymore, noting that the key is to go from the sketch to the actual making as quickly as possible.

In terms of design, the shoe is unbeatable. The Magista 2's "heat-map" design is intended to mimic the hot spots where most players are bound to interact with the ball. In this case, red reveals areas of the foot with high sensitivity to touch. Noticeably, this design was originally used on every prototype of the Magista 2 for data-collection, but Nike ultimately decided to turn it into an actual product. "It was pretty amazing when we first started seeing all the data come in and we painted it up," says VanHook. "It's the simplest idea, but it's really complex how the data came through."

Similar to what Adidas did with its AlphaBounce running shoe, Nike researchers used motion capture to study how different areas of the foot control the ball. Again, this is what's mirrored on the Magista 2's upper design, which is made out of Nike's trademark FlyKnit material.

Simply put, Magista experience is like wearing a thick sock which is exactly what Nike says it had in mind. Magista 2 might not be your smart shoe type like Lenovo which tracks your fitness levels in terms of concrete figures. Nike’s model is made for core footballing. So, grab your pair and hit the field to try the new experience.