The R9 Mercurial one of the most recognisable football boots in modern history, and as well as kicking off one of the most iconic boot lines of all time, their design also served to inspire the imagination of a generation. And it has served as inspiration once again, with customiser extraordinaire SWithADot creating an homage-laden Nike Air Force 1.
Make no mistake about it, the Nike Mercurial R9 set the precedent for lightweight boot design, sighting a new direction for modern speed boots. Initially known as Tiempo Ultra Light and the Ronaldo Ultra Speed, the first Nike Mercurial R9 was engineered with the 21-year old Ronaldo’s startling speed in mind. A truly revolutionary concept and deadly on the feet of the Brazilian, it packed brand new tech in that instantly recognisable and iconic wavy silver, blue, and yellow paint job. And now, on the back of inspiring a special tee, the R9 Mercurial is once again serving as creative fuel, this time for Premium customising studio, SWithADot.
Created as a special one-of-a-kind gift for rare boot collector, BW Boots, SWithADot took a pair of Nike Air Force 1 as the base and then reimagined the famous Mercurial R9 concept in a way of their own. The project was not without challenge, given the AF1 construction, but that challenge was risen to with aplomb – that’s right, we used 'aplomb' in a sentence, deal with it.
To make the job even sweeter, the whole design was completed only using paintbrushes, excluding airbrush and stencil techniques.As a final flourish to the finished product, the whole kicks were covered with hand-applied, manually melted silver. The original Ronaldo, the original Nike Mercurial R9, transformed into an Air Force 1. You want these, but it’s too bad as they’re one-of-a-kind. Shame, because we’d pay good dollar for a pair.
