Sonny Bill Williams’ custom adidas boots
It looks as though SBW is following suit (or boot) with some of the sporting world’s biggest stars, revealing his own custom designed aidas boots this weekend in the Chief’s 18 to 12 win over the Sharks. Williams has had his own design painted over the his white/red adizero RS7s so they are almost unrecognisable.
Featuring a unique pacific island motif similar to that of the traditional tattoos that adorn his massive frame, the eye-catching and unique boots look like they could be the next step up in visual design for the modern rugby boot.
In recent times brightly coloured boots have made an appearance in NZ rugby, occassionaly as a point of debate. But it seems that the single coloured, neon and highlighter tones could be making way for more thoughtful (and perhaps tasteful) designs that could see the humble rugby boot ‘follow in the footsteps’ (albeit on a smaller level) of Nike’s Air Jordan line of basketball shoes.
While Sonny-Bill Williams and rubgy union might be a long way from the great ‘MJ’ and the NBA, the consistent form that he continued to display during the match in South Africa, and his status in rugby is such that he’s probably one of the best positioned players to take boot design and marketing to the next level.