Premier's Design Awards - CobaltNiche

The Concave Quantum1 football boot designed by CobaltNiche is a finalist in the Premier's Design Awards 2103.

Concave Quantum 1 designed by CobaltNiche

The Concave Quantum1 football boot has revolutionised the sports industry since its debut in October 2012. The revolutionary feature of the boot is its patented Concave Element, which is situated on the instep of the boot, or the ‘sweet spot’ – the point of optimum power and accuracy.

The Concave Element naturally complements the convex shape of a football, creating a ‘cup’ for any football. This design feature allows players to execute kicks with more accuracy, control and power on a far more consistent basis than with a standard football boot.


A typical football boot’s ‘sweet spot’ is the area of the boot in which the kicker achieves maximum ball velocity for a given energy input. Prior to Concave, all football boots shared the same thin sweet spot, approximately 1cm wide and 4-5cm long. Just as tennis racquets and golf clubs have increased the power advantage for their sports, the Quantum widens the anatomical elements that make up the sweet spot and fuses these with a ball cupping shape, allowing greater margin for less error and increasing power by up to 15% and accuracy by 40%.


An added bonus of the boot’s design is the protection the Concave element provides to the metatarsal bones of the foot which are so important to power kicking. Metatarsal injuries are common place in football due to the hard studs of players’ boots connecting with the ‘soft top’ of a typical boot.

The ‘Metaguard’ is comprised of a reinforced cushioning composite which provides added protection; a feature which sports physicians and orthopaedic surgeons recognize as an injury preventing device in its own right.

(text and images courtesy of premier's design awards)