Foundational

The Swoosh had a lot of work to win customers back after the Tiempo Legend 10 failed so badly. While some people certainly found reasons to enjoy the boots, the change to the synthetic Nike Skin meant that the Legend 10 had an uphill battle. It can be understood why Nike decided to change to synthetic. After all, the brand itself committed to become more environmentally – which, LOL, LMAO even – but what was not understandable is why Nike decided to deliver such a half-baked product. All of this means that the Nike Tiempo Maestro Elite has a lot of work to do to get people back. The introduction of the new Tech Leather upper has not only given people a reason to come back, but the new material may up being a foundation for future boots. And the Tiempo Maestro as whole resets expectations for what we should expect from Nike’s “Touch” series, as long as they can fix the one glaring issue.

Fit and Feel

It is immediately obvious that Tech Leather is an impressive material from the moment you hold it in hands. It is remarkable how soft and pliable the material feels, even before you put the boots on feet. Of all the synthetic leather materials I have come across, Tech Leather is the closest thing to an actual leather. The material feels very premium, and it is easy to understand why it has received so much attention and praise. I will say, I still find premium kangaroo leather uppers to be softer and nicer overall, but the praise for the Tech Leather is justified.

In fact, I will change things up a little bit and first mention the fact that the Tech Leather upper breaks in very quickly. It only took around thirty minutes into my first session for the upper to fully break in. I was even shocked how easily the material feels ready to go. It is very similar to a high-grade kangaroo leather when it comes to the breaking in process.

On top of this, I have to say the overall performance of the upper leads me to believe that Tech Leather is an excellent piece of tech that Nike can find a variety of uses for across their footwear lineup, perhaps succeeding more than something like GripKnit. I would personally love to see a Tech Leather Mercurial, for example. This is the reason I used the word “foundational” earlier, as I feel the material is a good base for which Nike to use in a lot of different cases.

As for the fit itself, this is where things get a little rough. The Maestro has a nice, very wrapped around the foot fit that I personally really enjoy. I like boots that fit snug across the foot, however, they feel snug enough to the point that this can cause issues for others. As a reminder, my feet are medium to narrow, so while the boots fit me nicely and snug, it is probably too snug for anyone with feet on the wider side. Check out Boot Wizard’s review for details.

The overall snug fit does mean that the as a whole the lockdown is really good, and aside from the heel, more on that in a bit, my foot feels super locked into the boot.

As part of this snug fit, Nike’s decision to go with a tight knit tongue makes sense if they were aiming for a snug wrapped fit but makes less sense when one considers the previous more wider foot friendly fit of previous Tiempos. Not to say previous Tiempos were super wide-foot friendly, but they all (except for the Legend 10) offered a wider fit than what the Maestro offers. The snug fit also comes from the design that has the exposed Tech Leather wrapping around the bottom of the midfoot. While this does add to the more close around the foot feel, I again feel that Nike should have gone with something that allowed for a more adjustable fit.

Something else I noticed that struck me as strange is the fact that the boot would feel slightly weird at the start of the session, so I would take them off for a couple of minutes and when I put them back on, they immediately felt better. This happened in every session I wore the Maestro. I am not sure if this is just me, but it is something worth pointing out. It almost feels like the boot has to rebreak in a little boot every time you play in them. Though, I will say weird feeling lasted less and less time the more sessions the boots got.

Again, this is quite bizarre because the like I mentioned before, the forefoot Tech Leather already felt broken in really quickly. It somewhat feels like the rest of the boot needs longer to break in compared to the forefoot.

Right, so now the upper has gotten lots of praise, we have to talk about the Maestro’s massive weak point. The heel. It is always the heel with Nike. I do not understand how such an impressive boot can have such a poor heel fit. It is overly wide, and the heel cushioning feels like it is in a weird spot, lower than where it should be. Which makes it push the heel forward rather than lock it in. This would explain why the rest of the upper fits so snug, as it means that the foot is locked in enough to where a loose heel does not matter as much. I mentioned this in one of my playtest reels on Instagram, but at this point Nike should take a ASICS boot, cut the heel in half, and copy what they do because it is clear that Nike does not know how to design a good heel.

Another weak point is the insole. It is really cheap and lacks decent cushioning. I’ll go over the actual soleplate later, but there is stud pressure, and while the studs are actually a good size and not overly tall, the terrible insole means you can feel them. I understand that it is becoming more popular to wear replacement insoles, but for me that is no excuse for Nike to give such an expensive and premium product such cheap insoles.

For sizing I went half a size down to a US 8/UK 7/EU 41/JP 26 and the fit was perfect. For me. I do not recommend going a half size down because of the super snug fit. The Maestro does run slightly long, but the tight fit means that true to size should be the choice for pretty much everyone. Unless you’re silly. Like me.

On the Ball

Tech Leather would not be so exciting if it only broke in quickly and was so so on the ball. However, the Tech Leather is just as impressive on the ball. The touch is natural and very precise. Furthermore, given how consistent and uniform the upper is, this means there is no weird feeling when passing or dribbling. I appreciate that Nike have made the upper thin enough to give excellent feedback when you are on the ball, but not so thin that there’s a sting when hitting with power or receiving a long pass.

The upper being thin enough to give good feedback means that when hitting the ball with power feels enjoyable to do. It all feels very leatherlike, and while again, I still find a high-end kangaroo leather to be better in terms of touch, there is no doubt that Nike has produced something special with this upper. The touch on the ball is very good, and it is one of those boots that just makes you want to constantly be on the ball.

Of course, one of the upsides of the Tech Leather when compared to a natural leather is that the upper does not absorb as much water. On top of this, Tech Leather has a slight stickiness to it that does not decrease when the material is wet. So, it’s great when the weather is rough and the upper performs well with minimum fuss. Seriously good work from Nike.

Actually, this is at the time of writing the Tiempo Maestro might be my favourite boot on the market. Though, I will test the Ligera next and I will have a comparison between the two boots in that review.

Grip

The soleplate is well designed, and I appreciate the fact that there is flexibility in the forefoot, allowing you to move more naturally. This does mean that there is not much snapback, but the Maestro is not designed for that, so I do not see it as an issue.

While I did use the boots on AG and I personally had no issues, I did feel the back to studs catching at times and I would not recommend using the FG soleplate on AG. I did find that on harder ground the soleplate was OK, but the terrible insole means that there was still stud pressure. Again, the AG outsole seems like the more multifunctional option.

However, given that the soleplate was not designed to be multifunctional, I personally do not mind this and as a whole, I do like the soleplate, I do think it matches up with the boot well and it feels like the soleplate was designed in conjunction with the rest of the boot rather than being an afterthought. Good work again.

Tech Leather versus Silkywrap – Comparison

Of course, Nike is not the first brand to make a big push into to the synthetic leather space, and while a lot of brands have done so over the years, ASICS seemed to have nailed it last year with the release of their new Silkywrap upper. And Silkywrap is still very good, and both the X Fly Pro 3 and X Fly 6 are excellent boots. However, Tech Leather is the better material in terms of quality and the touch on the ball. Part of this does come down to the fact that Nike is able to spend more time and money on research and development, leading to a higher quality synthetic leather. The Tech Leather also feels plusher to the touch. Silkywrap is still an excellent material that I rate highly, but Tech Leather is just that much nicer overall. Although, I do feel that Silkywrap is slightly thinner on the X Fly Pro 3 in particular, so there is that. But yes, overall, Tech Leather is the better material.

Conclusion

It feels like Nike worked hard when creating Tech Leather and their hard work has paid off. Nike had to nail the replacement for the Legend 10 and the Nike Tiempo Maestro Elite surpasses all expectations. It is a little frustrating as it does feel that Nike could have released the Maestro instead of the Tiempo 10, because given the development timelines and the fact that a lot of boots are developed over a couple of years or so means Nike could have possibly delayed or cancelled the Tiempo 10. However, the flip side of this is that there is a chance that Nike would have had to rush the release of the Maestro. Given how good the Tech Leather is, I am glad they did not seem to rush it. However, maybe Nike could have taken more time working on the fit and especially the heel.

Despite the heel the being such a letdown, this should not take away from the fact that the new Tech Leather upper is such an impressive material that Nike should use as a basis for a lot of boots going forward and I am excited to see what Nike does with the material and the Tiempo series in the future.

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