The SB Interview | Phil McCartney: Nike Magista - Football News

In amongst the Magista madness at the Innovation Summit in Barcelona we sat down with Nike Football Footwear VP Phil McCartney to hear his views on the revolutionary new concept and to dig deeper into the story behind, what Nike are calling, the future of football boot design.
 

McCartney has been involved from the very start of the Magista project, a project that he's been working diligently on for four years and admits his team are obsessed with getting performance right. "Do I think this is a revolution? Absolutely. Do I think this is a new chapter like what we did in '98 with the Mercurial? Based on what our players are telling us, absolutely."

On the objective of the Magista McCartney explained; "The idea for us with the Magista was how we could increase fit, touch and traction and how we could deliver what the players are asking us for which was an extension of the foot. Our players were really clear about what they wanted, we had different versions of how we could execute against that insight and this was the best version, the version players preferred."

Touching on the obstacles his team were up against McCartney told us; "There was a ton of challenges, using Flyknit in football is really difficult. There were a couple of things that jumped out right away, the first was water retention, that's the reason we applied NikeSkin with ACC technology. The second thing our players brought up was durability, which again is why we used the NikeSkin and Flyknit in tandem and that's why we've put the boot through extensive testing, over 3,000 hours to date, using 50 world class players."



Commenting on the visuals McCartney explained; "The reason we did the boot in black too is because one thing we hear from players on SoccerBible and in general is that they want a black boot. The on pitch colour is bright and allows us to highlight the technology then the black gives that choice for people who want innovation but not necessarily in that colour." There you go folks, you ask, you get. Keep your comments coming because Nike are there, watching, scrolling, judging and listening.
 

What do you think of the Nike Magista? Impressed with the concept? See our full feature on the Nike Magista here. Let us know your thoughts. Join the conversation online, on Twitter and on Facebook.