Nike seems to be tripling down with the Ready pack series. We just got Peak Ready right after the 2023/24 season-opening collection. And to start the second half of the football year, we are now getting Mad Ready. If ‘Ready’ was more on red and white and ‘Peak Ready’ was predominantly turquoise, Mad Ready is all about Lemonade and black. But it’s not your ordinary citrus-like yellow, as it is a very pale, light shade that you can almost mistake it for white.
Lemonade has that oscillation between yellow and beige, depending on the lighting circumstances. But whatever the case, the Mercurials has the most of it all as Lemonade covers the upper from heel to toe. All the other brandings like the medial AIR and the Swooshes have a no-nonsense application in black. The outsole has a white and black heel and forefoot delineation, and the Air Zoom window has its tint in dark grey.
The Phantoms in this case has more presence of black, courtesy of the quarter overlay on the knit. It also has the quarter Swoosh in gold that seem to complement the Mad Ready themes. The white Flyknit integrated tongue displays a pixelated transition towards the black collar.
Flex up the forefoot and you’ll see the Cyclone 360 set up with a white base plate with an inner golden circular panel, all surrounded by circling blades in black.
Like the Phantoms, the Tiempo cuts the Lemonade on the upper by the quarter point, shifting that part of the boot to clean white and going around the black Swooshes that finish off in gold toward their tips. The tongue and the edges of the low-cut collar go in black. Soleplate-wise, the Tiempo is mostly white and just has the stud tips deliver a very light bluish translucency.
