Puma have been making iconic football boots for over 80 years and believe their newest one is the ‘future of football’
The German sports giant are famed for the Super Atom, the first boot with screw-in studs, the Puma King - worn by Pele - and now comes the Ultra Nitro 7.
And in developing the new boot, Puma have put the athlete - both professional and amateur - at the centre of their process.
When developing the new boot they ask the athletes right from the beginning what they are looking for and then aim to provide what their athletes want.
“We spend a tremendous amount of time speaking to athletes,” Romain Girard, Puma’s Vice President of Innovation told FourFourTwo. “But not only with the top athletes, but also with a lot of local communities in Germany, France and the USA.
“We want to understand what are they looking for, what do they need, what are they missing, what do they like, what do they dislike, and not just on Puma products but in general.
“When we want to launch a new boot for something like the World Cup, the time frame from talking to top players and the young players through the development process is around two to two and a half years ago.”
The brand new Ultra Nitro 7 boots feature Puma’s Nitro foam in the sockliner and footbed, which was first introduced for its track & field shoes around five years ago, and it is designed with speed in mind.
At 180g, the boot pairs that responsiveness with an Ultraweave upper for lightweight precision and a Speedsystem 2.0 outsole for explosive propulsion, making it the most complete Ultra boot Puma has ever made.
And Puma take their innovation very seriously, Girard added: “We are becoming like chemists.
“When it comes to Nitro the process of super critical foaming, but it's also, it's a lot of chemistry understanding which raw material you use, the temperature you use, the types of additives, the timing, so there is a lot of that and so we wanted to make sure.
“With the Nitro we look at everything from the world of football - but not just at the top level - so sometimes the boots are left on the radiator for a day and a half or they are getting in the car in the sun or they're going to cold baths, so we wanted to make sure that that Nitro is really fitting the way people are using the football boots whether it be children or people who just play football for fun, but also top athletes.”
Puma’s footballers include Christian Pulisic and Cody Gakpo but their opinions and views are just as important as the parents and children who are buying the boots.
Girard said: “The kids and the parents are the ones who are buying the boots and they are the ones who give you the reality check.
“Top athletes, by the nature of what they do, can get as many pairs of boots or shoes as they want with whatever customisation they want. But those athletes who are not at the top of the game and play more for fun may buy a new pair of boots once a year or once every two years. So the process is about speaking to the top athletes but not exclusively, everyone is an athlete, my mum is an athlete.”
When Puma threw open their doors to the very impressive Nitro Lab in Los Angeles, the other innovation on display was the Cryo Vest, designed to keep athletes competing in hot weather cool, so expected to be key at this World Cup.
In previous World Cups played in hotter climates we saw the use of Airtex shirts in the 1970s and while at USA 94 Republic of Ireland manager Jack Charlton famously combated the heat by having staff throw sealed bags of water onto the field for his players to sip.
But Cryo Vest is far more sophisticated and advanced than both of those solutions.
Dominique Gathier, Puma’s Vice President of Teamsport said: “There are different vests for different stages of helping a player prepare. So there is one for warming up, and then the other one that is more for wearing on the bench aimed to keep the players at the optimal temperature so they can perform at their best.”
The Puma Ultra Nitro 7 will be available for pre-sale starting from July 13 and on general sale from July 23 at Puma.com and select retail partners worldwide.
