Good news, everyone! It’s Saturday! Hopefully your weekend is in full swing. The shop is choc-full of new boots ready for us to discuss. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at one of the great futsal boots, the Nike5 elastico in the black with tour yellow & white colorway. Residents of Missouri will be happy to know that the shoe has a certain Mizzou Tigers appeal given the colorway. End of shameless alma mater plug.
Okay folks; let’s start with the look of the soccer shoe since that’s the biggest change. The toes of the boot are all white, all the way to the mid-foot or so. Save the black Nike Swoosh, the front of the shoe is entirely white, accented only by the stitching and small ventilation holes. Once we get to the mid foot, the action begins. The outside of the foot sees the white element slowly fades into the black through a series of shrinking bubbles, characteristic of the elastico line. The inside of the foot sees the same idea, but the change is much more abrupt, owing to the overlaid synthetic stitched on top of the yellow. Staying on the inside, we see a solid yellow element carry over until the outside of the heel, where it is abruptly overtaken by an overstitched black element. The yellow is accented through stitching across the arch, black NIKE lettering reminiscent of the early 90s, and of course the mesh fabric across the heel.
Now we’ve reached the black element along the outside of the foot, which as I mentioned, is stitched over the yellow. The black element is all synthetic leather, and it sees the action of a large white Swoosh in addition to some sweet stitching. Add in the black laces, and you’ve got a shoe that looks all business. It has some flair, sure, but it isn’t loud and obnoxious; it’ll let your feet do most of the talking while also letting people know that you appreciate a little flair here and there.
If you were aware of the elastico shoes prior to this review, then you know what about the construction. If not, then come with me! What we have here is a low-profile shoe that utilizes five or so pieces of material stitched over one another. Normally, the more pieces of fabric stitched together means more opportunities for splitting to occur, but Nike took care of that by double stitching the right areas for proper reinforcement. Reinforcement also comes with the stitched toe, which will keep the front end of the shoe together through the beatings that come in futsal. The sole is also top grade as well as non-marking, so you’re covered there. This allows the shoe to be used even as a casual shoe if you feel so inclined, especially given the comfortable insole.
As far as fit goes, these puppies are a little on the narrow side, like most Nike shoes. They fit pretty true to length, though. A size 9 fit me perfectly, and that’s my go-to size. The in-sole is comfortable, as I said previously, and the sock liner is nothing to shake a stick at, either. Once you break these shoes in, they’ll continue to deliver comfort, day-in and day-out. Depending on the beating you’ll inflict, the life span of the shoes will vary. If you plan on giving these boots a beating, I’d take a step up to the Elastico Pro or Elastico finale; however, if you’re only planning on using these shoes every now and again for games, you’ll be fine with these $50 shoes. If black/white/yellow isn’t your thing, then I suggest checking out another color scheme in the same shoe, because they’re among the top for futsal shoes.
Written by: Kris Dyer, soccerprose.com
