Inside the Lab: 10R

Jaw-dropping skill and a 100-watt smile. The ability to make professional defenders look like amateurs, all while grinning from ear to ear. These are the things that you notice first when watching one of the world’s most gifted players. But, Ronaldinho’s game is not only about glamour; it’s also about grit. He has the strength and determination to back up his audacity.

So how do you make a boot that can provide the softest of touches, but withstand the most brutal of challenges? That was one of the many questions designer Tom Minami was faced with when creating the latest 10R. So we sat down with Tom to get the lowdown on the design process.

What are the main differences between the new 10R and the previous version?
Tom: The biggest difference was that I could listen to him and get the feedback from the first 10R boot, which was huge. He liked the first one, but the main part he requested was softer leather.

What changes in the process when you are designing a shoe for one player in particular?
Tom: I would say most of the process is the same as the regular shoes, but we need to visit 10R often and make sure he’s a part of our team and he’s happy on every decision we make.



Did Ronaldinho make specific suggestions or was it more a matter of you creating a design to fit his playing style?
Tom: I think it’s both. He can tell us what he wants in boots, but also we could suggest some technical parts. For example, we came up with the story of futsal-inspired boots, which lead to heel kick, ball control functionality, and when we suggested it to him, he was very happy about it. As far as the design, he’s very open. He tries on the shoes before he says if he likes them or not, so I think fit and aesthetic are both important for him.

How did his personality influence the look of the shoe?
Tom: Everyone thinks he’s very flashy and he’d like flashy design and colors, but he is very conservative in boots and he likes the classic boot. So I was thinking of mixing the classic aesthetic and some modernity.

What made you go for a relatively simple black design versus the more colorful shoes we have seen in the last few years?
Tom: Our team thought that it’d be good to launch the 10R boot in black & white like the first one and potentially in the future as well. But you’ll see some colorful shoes in the future.