黑色球鞋不再受青睞 世界盃球場七彩綻放
Over the years, soccer has gone through a number of memorable, if often regrettable, fashion trends. There was the alarming popularity of short shorts; the odd fixation onpuffy, bloused jerseys; the bumblebee sock phase (not to be confused with the leg-warmer sock craze); and, in what was surely the sport’s couture low point, a brief dabble with the unitard.
Through it all, however, one immutable truth endured: Soccer cleats were black.
Yes, maybe there was the odd white stripe. Even a logo or two. But starting on Thursday, even casual fans will notice something different during the World Cup in Brazil as they watch the feet of the players fight over control of the ball. These days, the only ones still wearing black cleats are the referees. Everyone else looks as though he got into a fight with a rainbow.
“I don’t even get surprised by any of the colors anymore,” said Luis Suárez, the star striker for Liverpool, who will lead Uruguay’s team in Brazil. “I’ve seen pink, green, everything. When I was a boy, there was no question, the boots were black.”
He laughed. “I think everyone now knows those days are over.”
After the 2010 World Cup, when most players stuck to the basics, the European Championships in 2012 offered a hint of the game’s palette expansion. But the major shoe companies have planned a veritable parade of pigment for Brazil. The names sound like smoothie flavors: Metallic Mach Purple, Prism Violet, Earth Green, Solar Slime (it looks sort of like lemonade). Nike’s new shoes, which will be worn by stars like Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, have bold pinks and yellows, as well as a sock-type insert in some models that reputedly provides more ankle support.
Adidas’s freshest models, which will be on the feet of Argentina’s Lionel Messi, among others, are a sort of mottled, fluorescent-lizard-style shoe that blares loud blues and oranges. Puma appears to be going for an odd, gender-neutral sort of statement. Its new line features a design in which one shoe in each pair is pink while the other is blue.
“Personally, I always liked the all-black — I thought they were sleek,” said Jozy Altidore, a United States forward who endorses Adidas. “But we all know the importance of marketing, and so, to be honest, I just wear whatever they send me.”
This is a common refrain. As wonderful as the players may feel about the opportunity to better express their inner chameleon, fashion anywhere is a business, and there has been a tangible trickle-down effect in soccer. General sales for colored shoes have skyrocketed among amateur and youth players in recent years, and the shoe companies are adapting to the changing tastes. According to an Adidas spokesman, more than 80 percent of the cleats offered by the company during the spring/summer period this year were “color-based or accented by bright pop colors.”
“It’s a fashion show at the World Cup,” said Antonio Zea, director of soccer innovation at Adidas. “A kid wants to be Messi. A kid wants to be Beckham. We understand that. We know what it means for them to see the stars wearing something.”
Denis Dekovic, the soccer design director at Nike, said that while relationships with professional players are important, “our focus is on the younger players. We want the future.”
It is difficult to pinpoint when colored cleats broke through. Mr. Zea said that Adidas often points to 1996, when Bolivia’s Marco Etcheverry routinely wore a red version of the seminal Predator cleat.
Mr. Dekovic noted that up until the late 1990s, shoe designers were restricted with regard to colors because of the materials available to them. Kangaroo leather, which was preferred for cleats, was difficult to dye without compromising its integrity, so “it was pretty much black or white or maybe a little red,” he said.
In 1998, when Brazil’s Ronaldo wore Nike’s new Mercurial cleat, it was a breakthrough for the company on multiple levels: The colors were silver and blue, and the material was synthetic. “There has always been a desire to break the rules,” Mr. Dekovic said. “It is even more now. Players today have strong personalities, and the only way to show their personality is through the boots because everything else they wear has to be a uniform.”
That notion of individuality has become the preferred, less-cynical narrative for the new array of colors. (“Money, money, money” also makes for poor commercials.) And to some degree, it is true: The panoply of new shades allows players to make some choices. Stout defenders have often preferred a more solid, traditional tone, while playmakers and splashy strikers typically go for the bolder hues.
“I quite like the reds,” England midfielder Jack Wilshere said. Mr. Suárez, the Uruguayan, said the daring colors make him “feel more lively.”
Alexi Lalas, the former defender for the United States whose goatee and red hair made him a standout in a more staid era, recalled that in 1994, he approached the United States coach, Bora Milutinovic, the day before a game to ask about wearing white shoes during the match.
“We were playing in Seattle and it was an artificial turf field, so I had these white racquetball shoes I wanted to wear instead of cleats,” Mr. Lalas said. “He looked at them and frowned and said, ‘You better play well in those things.’ ”
Mr. Lalas scored a goal that day, he noted, but still heard some comments from other players. These days, he said: “It would be hipster, an all-white shoe. It’s like bell-bottoms, it all comes back around.”
Not all players are so enamored with the new colors. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish star whose team missed out on qualifying for Brazil, said he believes the bright colors hurt attacking players because assistant referees are more likely to notice if they are marginally offside. “With a black shoe, you can push it a little more,” he said.
And Daniele De Rossi, the longtime Italian midfielder, said he prefers to think back to the days when life, and soccer shoes, were simpler. “I love seeing the pictures of me as a kid wearing black,” he said. “It is almost too much now; you wonder where the designers will ever end.”
He sighed. “Every time a new box comes I think, ‘What’s next, maybe a boot with wings?’ ”據《紐約時報》網站報道，近幾年來，足球經歷了一些值得紀念的，或者更多是一些曇花一現的風尚。一度熱褲式的短褲，奇異的寬鬆肥大的球衣，大黃蜂黃黑條紋式短襪（不要與保暖型的短襪混淆）很流行，在體育時尚低迷期還短暫流行過緊身球衣。
凡此種種，不變的流行是黑色的球鞋。
確實有時會出現不多見的白色鞋帶。或是一兩個白色的商標。但從星期四開始，即使不是狂熱的球迷也會注意到巴西世界盃球場上的一些不同。現在，只有裁判纔會穿黑色的球鞋。其他的球員都會穿不同顏色的球鞋，就像剛和彩虹戰鬥過那麼顯眼。
“現在我看到任何顏色的球鞋都不會感到吃驚。”利物浦的明星前鋒蘇亞雷斯說，他將會帶領烏拉圭進軍巴西世界盃。“我見過粉色綠色各種顏色，在我小時候這是不可能的，所有的鞋都應該是黑色的。”
他笑着說，我想所有人都應該知道那個年代已經過去了。
2010年世界盃後，當時大多數球員還是遵循着常規，2012年的歐錦賽給球場的調色盤加了一些色彩。但是大型的球鞋公司爲巴西世界盃提供了真正的色彩選擇。一些色彩聽起來像是沙冰飲料的口味：金屬紫，幻彩紫，大地綠，金黃色（看起來像檸檬黃）。耐克的新品有耀眼的粉紅和黃色，還有像鞋墊一樣的插片，聽說可以爲腳腕提供更好的支撐，葡萄牙的C羅還有其他一些球星會穿Nike今年的新品。
阿根廷的梅西會穿上阿迪達斯今年的新款。其他的新款還包括一些色彩斑駁的，熒光色蜥蜴紋，明亮的藍色和橘色的款式。彪馬今年的流行趨勢是怪異的中性的風格。這一季的新款主要是不同色的系列，比如一隻是粉色的另一隻是藍色的。
“個人而言我一直傾向於黑色， 因爲我覺得黑色很時髦，”美國隊前鋒阿爾蒂多（Jozy Altidor）說， 他爲阿迪達斯代言。“但我們都清楚市場的重要性，所以老實說，他們送給我的我都穿。”
這種現象很正常。像球員覺得更好的表現他們的內在讓他感覺很棒一樣，時尚無處不是商業，在足球圈裏也能看到滲透式效應。帶色彩的球鞋很受業餘愛好者和年輕球員的青睞，銷量普遍顯著上升，球鞋公司因此也爲適應市場需求迎合消費者口味。 阿迪達斯的一位發言人說，公司今年春夏款的球鞋超過80%都是帶有亮色的。
“今年的世界盃會像是一場時裝秀，”阿迪達斯的足球創意總監安東尼奧（Antonio Zea）說。“一個孩子想成爲梅西，另一個想成爲貝克漢姆。我們理解他們。我們知道當他們看到喜歡的明星穿着什麼會給他們帶來怎樣的影響。”
耐克的足球創意總監德科維奇（Denis Dekovic）說，與職業球員密切關聯是重要的，“但我們也關注年輕的球員，因爲我們要的是將來。”
很難說彩色球鞋的風潮是何時引入的。安東尼奧說阿迪達斯認爲是1996，當時玻利維亞的馬爾科·埃切維裏（Marco Etcheverry）總是穿一雙鮮紅色的獵鷹球鞋。
德科維奇說上世紀90年代後期之前，球鞋設計者往往被侷限於顏色是因爲材料的限制。袋鼠皮很適合用來做球鞋，但因爲很難上色的特性很難染色，所以當時球鞋的顏色非黑即白，或者偶爾有紅色。
1998年，巴西的羅納爾多穿上耐克的新作——一雙銀色的球鞋，對公司來說是一個多方面的突破：球鞋的顏色是銀色和藍色的，而且用了合成的材料。我們一直渴望打破常規，德科維奇說， 現在更是這樣。 如今的球員有更鮮明的個性，唯一可以用來表明他們的個性的裝束就是球鞋，因爲其他的裝束必須一致。
對個性的追求讓新的色系更加令人喜愛。（錢字當先也會破壞商業）在一定程度上， 一系列的色彩給了球員一些選擇，這倒是真的。強壯的守門員會比較偏向更飽和傳統的色彩，而中場或前鋒會更喜歡鮮亮的色彩。
“我很喜歡紅色。”英格蘭的中場威爾希爾（Jack Wilshere）說。蘇亞雷斯說鮮豔的色彩讓他覺得更活躍，他是烏拉圭人。
拉拉斯（Alexi Lalas）回憶說, 1994年，在比賽的前一天，他曾找過美國隊教練米盧（Bora Milutinovic），問他能不能在比賽時穿白色的球鞋。拉拉斯是過去美國隊的後衛，他的山羊鬍和紅髮讓他在一個傳統的時代裏脫穎而出。
“我們當時在西雅圖比賽，球場是人造的綠茵，所以我想穿白色的碎釘球鞋而不是黑色釘鞋。”拉拉斯說，“他皺着眉看着我然後說，你最好還是穿黑球鞋。”
拉拉斯先生那天進了一球，但還是聽到來自其他球員的一些評論。近年來，他說，白球鞋是很時髦的，就像喇叭褲，會重新流行起來。
然而也不是所有的球員都喜歡新色彩。瑞典的明星球員伊布（Zlatan Ibrahimovic）說他覺得鮮豔的顏色反而會不利於球員，因爲如果他們有一點點越位助理裁判會更可能注意到。但如果穿着黑球鞋的話，你再過分一點也沒關係。他的球隊沒能獲得進巴西世界盃的資格。
意大利的中場德羅西更喜歡球鞋和生活都更加簡單的過去。我喜歡看着過去我穿着黑球鞋的照片，他說，現在一切都做的太過了，你會想那些設計師什麼時候才能停止。
他感嘆道：“每當收到一個新盒子我就會想，這又是什麼，難道會是一雙帶翅膀的球鞋?”
