adidas and Nike present the Escapelight Pack and the Renew Pack, respectively. These are their new collections, featuring black as the dominant colour, for the start of the 21/22 season.
21 July 2021
- Written by David del Río
Black boots never go out of fashion, and although they remind us of classic football boots, brands never fail to remind us that black looks absolutely brilliant on their more modern, high-tech football boots. This time, it’s adidas and Nike who are giving their three main ranges a black makeover, presenting their new off-pitch collections which, as is always the case with these releases, are set to be a huge commercial success.
Let’s start with the Germans and their new Escapelight Pack. As the name suggests, the light fades from this collection, leaving these three boot styles in complete darkness, but if adidas proves one thing with this launch, it’s that its football boots have plenty of personality, and here’s why. It’s not easy to paint a football boot black and still have it convey the same message as when it’s dressed in a bright colour, and adidas achieves just that with this Escapelight Pack. The X Speedflow continues to convey speed, lightness and creativity; the Predator Freak remains an aggressive and eye-catching boot, regardless of its black upper; and the Copa Sense exudes class, good taste and finesse – in short, everything the Copa player stands for.
We’ll touch briefly on the details of each pair, as there aren’t many. Let’s start with the X Speeflow, where adidas has brought us a pair of black boots featuring the brand’s signature details – such as the logo and the three stripes – in blue. There’s also a subtle pink line where the sole meets the upper. Two simple details that give these black boots a modern, casual look – it’s hard to achieve more with less.
Next up is the Predator Freak, the German brand’s ultimate boot. As we’ve said before, all adidas football boots have plenty of personality, but the Predator Freak in particular is a cut above all other boots on the market when it comes to charisma. This aggressive design, with its asymmetrical collar and scales across the upper, is a sensational piece of design work from adidas. In this particular colourway, all it takes is a touch of blue on the outer heel counter and a few of the Demon Skin spikes; when combined with the grey stripes, the result is a spectacular football boot. Batman himself would be proud of how adidas has used the colour black in these football boots.
Finally, we’re donning our tuxedos and bow ties to introduce you to the adidas Copa Sense. These are the least black boots in this Escapelight Pack; depending on how the light hits them, they appear as silver football boots with black shadows – we can’t quite tell if they’re dark or light – but they look stunning. The three-stripe brand has managed to apply a particularly striking colour to these Copa Sense boots. In the shade, they’re dark, in a dark grey colour close to black, but when they’re in the light, the colour changes completely, turning them into silver football boots that are very eye-catching and striking. The splash of colour comes from the external heel counter, which ranges from pink to blue via lilac. These Copa Sense boots are a marvel from adidas, and we are going to choose them to kick off the football season, hoping to live up to such a creation.
Let’s move on to the Nike Renew Pack, and we’ll discuss the three silos in general terms, as the details are exactly the same across all three models: the Mercurial, Phantom GT and Tiempo Legend. The American brand has chosen sky blue and grey to complement the black, which, as we mentioned earlier, is the dominant colour in this collection. The design is the same across all three silos, with the Swoosh outline and the silo name in sky blue, and grey detailing.
Of all the models, we think the Mercurials are the standout stars of this collection; whilst we don’t believe there’s a colour in the world that could spoil this magnificent creation from Nike, the distinctive upper of these boots, combined with the new double Swoosh, makes them the most attractive pair in Nike’s new Renew Pack.
Turning to the other two colourways, the Phantom GT2 doesn’t come off too badly, as the new design of the Phantom GT2 football boots allows for grey to be used across much of the boot, giving them a slightly less serious look. Even so, we don’t think this is the most appealing colourway for these Nike Phantom GT2 football boots, but of course that’s just our personal opinion.
Finally, and speaking purely from a personal perspective, let’s talk about the new black Nike Tiempo Legend 9s. At first glance, we might all think that if there’s one Nike range that looks good in black, it’s undoubtedly the Tiempo. But having seen them in white, we don’t think black will be the best choice for this new generation of Tiempo Legend boots. Black dulls these boots, makes them look flat, and gives the impression that they’re just the same old classic boots, which isn’t the case. The Nike Tiempo Legend 9 is all about innovation and creativity, which is why we don’t think these are football boots designed to be painted black. Even so, if you like this colourway, go for them, as in terms of technical features, these Nike Tiempo Legend football boots are among the best you can find on the market today.
These are the two new collections from adidas and Nike for the coming season. We won’t be seeing them in professional football, which is a shame, because we are really curious to know which players would be willing to paint their feet black and show off these packs on pitches around the world.
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