The revolutionary Nike Hypervenom 2 Boot was launched earlier this week in Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium. Having evolved a lot since the first generation Hypervenom from two years ago, the new Nike Hypervenom 2 introduces a Dynamic Fit collar and Flywire technology.
Nathan VanHook, Senior Footwear Design Director for Nike Football and Phil Woodman, Nike Football Footwear Designer, sat down with Highsnobiety to explain the design process behind the Hypervenom 2.
How does the design process work for a brand new product like this?
I think for football in particular, the amount of things you have to solve – like most footwear you just have to secure the foot and provide cushioning – but with football you need to have good traction for all surfaces; they need to have amazing touch and a lot of players are so detailed in the touch they want. It’s a lot of going back and forth with different prototypes [Hypervenom 2 Prototypes] to see what we can tweak and update.
In terms of the design process, when do you reach the point when you know the boot is finished?
I think the key is going back and forth with the players. When we set out these goals at the beginning we work with the players and once we tick off these goals and once it looks like a super unified product and every detail has worked out – then we know we’ve had a success.
