Released date - 2008
Introduction
When Nike debuted the 'Rosa' Mercurial Vapour IV in 2008, they reached new heights of inventiveness. This was something that had never been done before, and when men's wearing pink became more popular, additional manufacturers quickly joined the pink brigade!
'You Better Be Quick' was Nike's tagline for the pink Vapour IV launch campaign, implying that sales would be speedy. However, the actual meaning was that failure to pull them off quickly would make you a prime target for abuse! It takes a bold player to pull them off even now, and many players probably won't wear them on a wet Sunday match because they fear getting crunched for it.
Players that did wear the Vapor IV include Nicklas Bendtner (the Arsenal striker caused a huge buzz when he scored a late winner against Dynamo Kiev to fire Arsenal into the Champions League knockout stages). The Sun newspaper even wrote 'They pink it's all over' on the back page which was great news for Nike.
Even Marco Materazzi wore the Pink Vapor IV along with Hatem Ben Arfa but it was France and Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery that was Nike’s front man. Franck featured in an eyebrow raising advert which ended up giving the boots their nick name – the Pink Panther.
Twelve years later, Nike drew inspiration directly from the 2008 original Vapour Rosa to serve as a reminder to Mbappe of his life before to his ascent to fame.
With a bold and colourful colour scheme, the Rosa model was revamped to reflect Mbappe's incredible pace on the pitch. Its modern style is just as captivating as his skill.
One can readily see Mbappe's utter joy when he first puts these boots on. They have a sleek chrome soleplate, subtle details on the upper, and personalised touches like the initials KM and the legendary Mercurial emblem.
The price of the Pink Panther Vapor IV’s are sky high and the availability is very low – did you have a pair or maybe you bought some and weren’t brave enough to adorn them….not a bad move if you have an unused pair under the bed as selling them could definitely leave you with a rosy wallet!
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