SB Recap | October Launches - Football News

October was another hectic month that saw everything from premium updates and reflective technology, to out of this world designs and crazy collaborations. When news moves so fast it's easy to forget what's been going on so we've taken a quick look back to refresh your memory.

Kicking the month off was Mizuno who added four new boots to their 'Made in Japan' Collection. The hand-made premium series sits separately to their standard line and combines Mizuno's stunning looks with the quality of craftsmanship normally reserved for their professional players.



Among the updated pack was a brand new colourway for the Mizuno Morelia Neo, exclusive to the 'Made in Japan' collection. The brand from Japan turned on the style delivering a stunning Blue/White/Blue update to their popular Neo line. Combining premium craftsmanship with signature aesthetics, these were one of our favorite launches of the month.



Next up were adidas, updating their adiPURE 11Pro SL line with the pre-existing Black/White/Red colourway that had already made its way onto the standard edition adiPURE boots. We've previously seen exclusive colourways given to the 11Pro SL, but adidas chose to extend last season's release and you can understand why. A black, white and red adidas boots is always a winning formula.



Carrying on from their autumn collection released in September, Pantofola d'Oro gave their classic Piceno boot one more update with a great looking blackout version. The luxury Italian brand have been experimenting with brighter designs of late but this time around they went back to their black booted roots that we've all come to know and love.



Further into the month and adidas were back, this time with football's first reflective boot pack. The Enlightened Pack featured reflective exposure innovation on the stripes and laces creating a unique display of visuals when under floodlights or camera flashes. Worn in daylight they also double up as a decent looking set of black boots as demonstrated by many of adidas' pro players during the Champions League.
 

Prior to release we sat down with adidas Global Senior Product Manager Antoine Hadjimanolis to discuss the innovative new boots. "For each of these silos, we have reflective stripes and refelctive laces. It's the first time we're bringing a four-silo pack with reflective technology. It is a big story for us and there is a lot of excitement around this."



Nike may have only had one new release in October but it was a big one. The almighty Nike CR series made a welcome return with the release of the Nike CR Mercurial Galaxy football boots. The unique new design featured a deep blue and black galaxy print across the upper and a matte-silver Swoosh.

A signature boot is designed to capture the essence of what makes a player unique, and Nike and Cristiano have certainly showcased that with this latest release. Much like their inspiration, many of these designs split opinion. You either love them or hate them, but you certainly can’t ignore them.



Not to be out done, adidas reignited their long term relationship with the influential Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, launching the adidas Yamamoto F50 adizero. Inspired by Japanese lion-dogs and with minimal branding and no three stripes, adidas gave Yamamoto full freedom in terms of the graphical execution. The crazy boots were limited to just 2000 pairs globally.
 

Talking about the boots, we spoke to adidas Global Senior Product Manager Antoine Hadjimanolis who explained; "The design inspiration comes from the ancient times in Japan where the Gods and Emperors used a lion as a guard. It's an outstanding design that we've never seen on an adidas football boot before. This is what we do, we want to be innovative, drive conversation and this boot is definitely going to bring it." 



Yamamoto's relationship with the adidas F50 dates back to 2006, when adidas released the Y-3 Yamamoto +F50 Tunit YY pack. We took a look back at that original football collaboration inspired by the Japanese artist Taishi Hayashi and released in four super exclusive designs; the Dragon, the Eagle, the Tiger and the Wolf.
 

Lastly we took five minutes to sit down with Sunderland Striker Steven Fletcher ahead of the Tyne-Wear derby (which Sunderland won thanks in part to Fletcher's early goal). The interview covered everything from crazy Italian teammates, footballing idols and how he’s finding his Umbro Geometra 2 boots after signing with the brand in the summer.

What was your highlight of the month? Let us know. Join the conversation online, on Twitter and on Facebook.