“It’s not just about the uniform and it’s not just about the cleat,” declares Todd Van Horne, Creative Director for Nike Football. “It’s the combination of the two that creates an innovative, head-to-toe performance system to help enable football players to be faster and more comfortable.” The new Nike Vapor Untouchable uniform and Nike Vapor Untouchable II cleat are the protagonists in this equation, delivering fully re-engineered, improved function and fit for lightweight speed.

Developed using 3D printing and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software that virtually tests the entire cleat and plate to color map key stress points, the Nike Vapor Untouchable II is Nike’s lightest (9.5 ounces) and most adaptive football cleat to date.

“Our goal is to give athletes strength, speed and traction in a lightweight package,” says Jeff Rasmussen, Senior Designer for Nike Football Cleated Footwear. “The Nike Vapor Untouchable II achieves that by restructuring the plate and reducing the amount of separate components that make up the entire cleat.”

Taking insights from athletes at all levels of the game over the 21-month design process, Nike designers constructed a carbon-fiber cleat plate built for multidirectional movement that enables forward propulsion while simultaneously dispersing upward pressure throughout the forefoot to help reduce impact. The plate also features a new stud configuration that trades traditional conical studs for new four-sided studs. This shape, according to studies by the Nike Sports Research Lab, offers maximum traction and helps advance acceleration, deceleration and lateral movement.