Prada reimagines three iconic Adidas football boots, marrying the House’s sophisticated codes with high-performance football technologies unique to the German brand.
In the latest news of brand collaborations, we have Prada come together with Adidas to recode three iconic boots from the football giant’s repertoire, decorating fine leather bodies with the bold red iconography of Linea Rossa. These silhouettes are namely the X Crazyfast, Predator Accuracy and Copa Pure — unveiled on a star-studded line-up that includes players like Catarina Macario, Paulo Dybala, Rafael Leão and Pedri, due to wear the boots on-pitch.
This is not a collaboration that is entirely out of the blue. Adidas is the world’s leading football brand name, the main supplier to the world’s most biggest football tournaments, and a partner to top clubs like Real Madrid, Manchester United and Arsenal. On the other hand, Prada is loved for its meticulous approach to craftsmanship, which culminates in their Linea Rossa family — a celebrated elevation of the industrial and functional. Put this two together and you get an amalgamation of performance and luxury at the top of their games; a single pair of football boots that perform and deliver at a professional level, while flaunting the finest of leather finishes for a football boot.
The first pair — X Crazyfast — sees the original silhouette reinvented with a premium leather while keeping the lightweight structure and translucent visual that the X franchise is renowned for. This leather — interspersed with adidas’ Fusion Skin — flows throughout the design, even to the heel lining.
On the other hand, the structure of X’s semi-transparent mono-mesh material on the mid-foot cage was adapted from the original grids to showcase the triangles of Prada’s brand identity, continued throughout the silhouette with the Linea Rossa red logo that adorns the heel of the boot. Created at the intersection of style and performance, the boot remains first and foremost made for sport at the highest level; the tooling features adidas’s innovative SPEEDFRAME technology, incorporated with a lightweight sole plate designed for responsive acceleration.
The Copa Pure is a nod to the design codes of both brands’ vast archives. Its shimmering silver leather upper, synonymous with Prada, is finished with a leather lace cover – paying homage to shoes of adidas’ past, and Prada’s iconic application of the finest materials.
This full-leather shoe is completed with the integration of Fusion Skin, which offers the player delicate control on the ball, and soft cushioning on the forefoot via a traditional quilted effect for that trademark Copa touch. A Torsion Frame Soleplate also helps keep players balanced to perform at the highest level.
The last pair, Predator Accuracy, is reimagined with a nubuck finish for the first time, and then wrapped in Fusion Skin for a lighter, performance-first end-product. The boot comes in a bold classic black, contrasted only by the Prada Linea Rossa stripe of the tongue and heel – which becomes translucent as it hits the tooling on the sole, and application of performance rubber on the upper.
The soft ‘spikes’ feature on the medial and lateral sides of a Predator boot — extending coverage on the surface, to optimise ball control and shooting accuracy. The spikes have also been transformed into triangles, in celebration of Prada’s design DNA. Meanwhile the outsole’s FACETFRAME delivers stability, highly efficient transition and dynamic traction for powerful movement on the pitch. The stud configuration is also optimised for use on firm ground.
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The design codes of the boot collection will also be showcased through an exclusive kit for the FIFA 23 Ultimate Team TM video game – with animated in-game versions of a jersey and shorts in both black and white that further celebrate the combination of Prada and adidas, transcending the partnership from the physical to the digital and gaming world.
Once you are done with this story, catch up with the rest of our May 2023 issue here.
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