14 DAY TRIAL // The FIFA World Cup has everyone buzzing, so of course Nike would be on top of things with new shoes every other week.
What interests us here is not the shoe pair itself, however, but the cleats on the soles. You see, Nike used 3D printing technology to make them.
In case you were wondering, cleats (studs) are protrusions on the sole of a shoe that provide additional traction on a soft or slippery surface, though they can be external attachments too.
Anyway, Nike has named its new cleats Nike Vapor Ultimate and made them by combining Nike Flyknit and Carbon V-plate technologies. The Nike Vapor Carbon 2014 Elite are the only cleats that use them for now.
Carbon V-plate is the first plate to come out of Nike’s 3D printing and testing facility. 3D printing was used by engineers to create shapes and designs impossible to render through normal manufacturing techniques. It also made prototyping a lot faster.
All in all, the cleats should be able to cope with even the greatest kinetic forces generated by athletes today. In layman terms, they won't easily break when you run or slide, no matter the terrain.
“3-D printing revolutionized the way we design cleat plates – even beyond football,” said Ken Link, Nike Football Cleated Design Director.
