The Nike Boot Shops Delivering Custom Requests for Ronaldo, Mbappe, Vini Jr. and More
- July 14, 2026
Kylian Mbappe, France’s prolific team captain, is known for his explosive speed, his precision, and his ability to be in the exact right place on the pitch at the exact right time.
To help one of the tournament’s leading scorers play his best — along with every elite Nike footballer — the Swoosh needed to bring that same speed, precision and ideal proximity to its product services. Enter the 2026 Montebelluna Boot Shops, a three-hub system across NIKE, Inc.’s Philip H. Knight Campus (PHK) in Beaverton, Oregon; its headquarters in New York City; and its offices in Mexico City.
In July, the Boot Shop in Beaverton tackled a build for Nike athlete Vini Jr., creating a custom Mercurial with the Brasilian flag and his own logo.
These pop-up shops, fueled by Nike Montebelluna’s expert bootmakers and orchestrated through its Sports Marketing teams, have served athletes all summer long, delivering on specialty boot requests in an average of 24 hours. From Cristiano Ronaldo’s custom golden boots to Vini. Jr’s Mercurial with the Brasilian flag and his personal logo to Mbappe’s blue and red Merc with the names of his loved ones added, the Nike specialists made the boots for the athletes who made the moment.
Below, go behind the scenes of the Boot Shop at PHK, and see how the brand’s Montebelluna and Beaverton teams combine old-world craft and modern speed to unlock the next era of serving athletes.
Throughout the summer, Nike’s Boot Shops in Beaverton, New York City and Mexico City have executed some 600 boot builds for the brand’s elite players.
The boot shop at PHK leverages the proprietary machinery and abilities of Nike’s world-class Bowerman Footwear Lab (BFL) and team, enabling the most complex boot builds with precision and speed.
“When athletes told us they needed faster access to customization and modifications during the tournament, we listened.”
Lauren Frattali, Senior Director, Global Sport & Athlete Moments
Nearly a dozen teammates on the BFL team created custom boots for the likes of Ronaldo, Mbappe and Vini. Jr.
“Our three-hub Boot Shop network brought Nike’s most premium craftsmanship closer to the game, serving athletes with precision, speed and confidence, at scale, during the sport’s biggest moment.”
Lauren Frattali, Senior Director, Global Sport & Athlete Moments
The BFL, a 90,000-square-foot space tucked inside PHK’s Mia Hamm Building, is an imagination machine for sneaker creation.
Serving as the company's test kitchen, the BFL space is where you’re reminded that Nike is a product company serving athletes through new solutions.
The BFL has the capabilities to craft a boot from start to finish — it built nearly 300 pairs of custom boots for tourney players — and accelerates new footwear concepts for all footballers.
The space has real-time prototyping capabilities, and the ability to tinker with a product idea for an athlete visiting campus, then instantly modify the proto based on their feedback.
