Mercurial Origins
Chapter 2
The natural progression of my PHK journey on campus led me to Ronaldo Field, where I joined Reed McKenna, Expert Product Line Manager within the Global Football sport category at Nike. With Reed at the helm of football, he was able to shed light and a valuable perspective on the inspiration behind the Mambacurial story. For all intents and purposes, the Mercurial from 1998 broke the mold. “It brought dynamic color to the football pitch for the first time ever,” shared Reed. “From the beginning, it stood for the edge of style, with bold colors, expressive graphics, and flashiness, arming players with equal parts confidence, audacity, and state of the art performance tech.”
Keeping in tradition, the iconic Fireberry colorway of the 2013 Mercurial Vapor 9 featured similar characteristics, in an entirely new, fresh way. With pink, purple and electric green blanketing the upper, the sneaker instantly stood out on the pitch and gave the players wearing them not just “an advantage through the tech, but through expression as well,” explained Reed. “The Fireberry design was all about balance and creating a hierarchy that allowed the shoe to be stunning but also cohesive, and that allowed the players wearing it to feel truly fearless.”
Over a decade removed from the debut of the Fireberry colorway, it feels just as relevant, innovative and striking as the first time it touched the pitch. My time with Reed was very insightful and helped me to better understand the connection between performance football boots and performance basketball. Here’s a look at chapter 2 and my time with Reed during my PHK visit.
