SoccerBible Access - Inside Nike Montebelluna
SoccerBible recently set off on a quest to visit the homeland of premium Nike soccer shoes. A small town 40 miles south-east of Venice. A town immersed in the art of shoemaking. This is where the world's best players go to get their boots custom-made. Montebelluna is the home of Nike's master craftsmen, and the birthplace of the new Nike Tiempo IV Elite.
Bringing you never-before-seen access, SoccerBible was invited where few have ventured before. As the doors to Nike Montebelluna opened, the intricate world of the Tiempo IV Elite was exposed. Take a look and share your thoughts with the SoccerBible community online, on Twitter and on Facebook. 
Montebelluna, dwarfed by the nearby Dolomites mountain range in the Southern Alps, houses only 30,000 people but is home to some of the worlds best expert cobblers. A small team who live and breathe Nike, their days are spent carefully crafting elite Nike soccer shoes for football superstars of the world. 
Nike Montebelluna is no ordinary place, and the boots that leave the small Italian town are certainly no ordinary soccer shoes. Each Nike boot is individually crafted to the finest personal details of Nike's professional player roster. Want to have your boots intricately carved to every contour of your foot? Simple, just become a Nike player and Montebelluna is at your service! 
Each of the 128 steps that are taken to create the new Tiempo Legend IV Elite occur inside the walls of Nike Montebelluna. As you enter, you feel the obsession and passion that has driven the Tiempo forward for over 17 years. The same detailed craft has been met with modern innovation as each bespoke Nike Tiempo is hand and mechanically crafted to players distinctive requirements. 
One of the most important processes involved in creating the ultimate bespoke Nike boots is the lasting process. Each individual last has been configured to the finest detail, ensuring they provide the perfect fit for some of the worlds finest players. Inside Nike Montebelluna, you won't find two lasts that are the same; whether it's Zlatan Ibrahimovic's size 12 ¾ last or Adam Johnson's bizarrely shaped 7 ¼ last!
After hours of dedicated craftsmanship involving mechanical heat pressure that perfectly moulds each of the 490 stitches to the last, the upper is fully shaped and ready to meet another of Nike's key innovations. The carbon-fibre plate, first introduced in 2010, is carefully 'cemented' to the boot, drastically reducing the weight of the Tiempo by 40g. 
As each Tiempo IV Elite makes its journey through Nike Montebelluna with intrinsic precision, the boots final personalisation treatment signifies the player fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of Nike's ultimate soccer shoe. Pique, Ronaldo, Fabregas, Henry, the list is endless. Nike icons of the game have passed through the doors of Montebelluna and left with a performance boot like no other. 
Nike's attention to detail is evidently of the highest level. A single Tiempo Legend IV Elite requires 128 stages of production, starting from a single hide to the finished boot. The numbers speak for themselves, with the Tiempo undergoing 36 assembly stages, 7 cutting stages, 15 screening stages and 50 lasting stages. The end result is an iconic boot inspired by tradition and reborn though innovation. 
Stay tuned as we'll be brining you more SoccerBible access from Nike Montebelluna very shortly! For now, have your say on Nike's ultimate soccer shoe service with the SoccerBible community online, on Twitter and on Facebook! To see our full feature on the new Tiempo IV Elite, click here.
