THE BLUEPRINT: THE IMPELLO BOOT - #006

I still remember the night it started. We’d just secured the deal to have our gloves and apparel featured in Creed III. It felt like a dream. I was telling Kev (who ran Reebok's Combat Division) that day about it, and while he was just as excited as I was, he pressed the chilling question:

"Why aren't you getting boots in there?"

I hadn’t planned to. Gloves and clothing, I could stand behind, I knew them inside out. But footwear? That was uncharted territory. I told him I didn’t want to put out anything unless it was the best, plus I'd never even looked at developing boots. Kev pushed back hard - "This is too big of an opportunity to let pass."

He was right. And just like that, the mission changed.

That same evening, I told Sena, my design intern, to stay back so we could smash out a design. We had hours, not days. Kev found me a supplier out of China who agreed to work late that night, but told us we had to get them a design by the morning so they could start sampling.

Usually, they would take months to sample a product, but given the size of the opportunity, they agreed to throw significant resources at the project to bring it to life.

We had three months to deliver a boot in two colour ways, and knowing what I knew from the clothing industry, one sample wasn't going to be enough. So, we got to work. Sena and I grafted in the office till 5am, buzzing off adrenaline, sketching something neither of us had built before.

We had no time, no experience in footwear, and no room for error.

But that’s exactly the environment we thrive in.

The First Line

The first thing I remember drawing wasn’t even a technical feature, it was the Strike logo. I realised our text logo wouldn’t cut it in footwear. The Strike needed to be the symbol. Clean, angled, aggressive, but curved with intent. Built off the golden ratio, that became our visual anchor.

From there, we started to imagine what the boot needed to feel like.

It had to be light. So light it felt like you weren’t wearing anything. It needed a thin sole that gave boxers that close-to-ground connection you get from barefoot training, but with structure and bite.

I sketched a side strap inspired by a limited-edition Japanese Air Force I had. The idea was that, when tightened, it would wrap the forefoot and generate more downforce. It looked clean. Conceptually, it made sense.

But concept and combat aren’t the same thing.

Lessons from the Screen

We hit the deadline for Creed. We got the boots made. Michael B. Jordan loved them. And for a while, that felt like a win.

Until we put them on real fighters.

Testing the early boots with actual boxers exposed everything. The strap that looked great in photos would sometimes catch during sparring. It hung loose. It became a liability. I hated that. The idea of putting something into the world that wasn’t battle-ready didn’t sit right with me.

The material we were using at the time was a fly knit, which looked great, felt great when you put it on, but after the rounds built up, it would absorb all the sweat, making it very heavy.

I sampled that particular boot over 30 times, changing fabrics, altering logo sizes, strap sizes, lengths - pretty much everything I could to gain a solid understanding of what made a boot work.

The supplier told me I was wasting their time and money, and while they saw the opportunity of working with me, they fired me. Twice. The second time was after I brought back feedback from Terence Crawford’s camp. The supplier laughed, said it wasn’t possible, and pulled the plug.

I thought about scrapping the boot entirely. More than once.

Apparel is easier. Less tooling. Less trial and error. But every time we filmed boxers, every time we shot masterpiece content, I’d look down at their feet and see another brand. It hurt. Giving free promotion to something we didn’t believe in, just because we hadn’t built our own solution yet.

That kept me going.

The Breakthrough

The real turning point came in the factory in 2024, standing over a pair of skateboard soles.

I’d been longboarding for years, but never thought about why skate shoes felt different.

I asked the factory owner what made the sole unique. It was the internal criss-cross grid designed for rigidity, to limit bounce and maximise feel.

That was it.

That was the start of the DRV-TEC-Sole, our internal grid system built specifically for boxing. I placed more density under the inside of the forefoot, right where the big toe presses into the canvas. That’s where pivots live. That’s where power transfers. That’s where control starts.

I kept the heel light and lifted, the midsole thin and flexible, and around the ball of the foot, I built a circular groove, anchored around the Strike logo, to help with smoother, more explosive rotation.

No gimmicks. Just real purpose. Every angle. Every pattern. Intentional.

The Feel

I tested every sample myself. Every new box that landed, I’d rush to the gym and lace them up. Early versions had materials that were too stretchy. They looked the part, but you’d lose all the force transfer on impact.

I became obsessed with the feeling around the pivot. The toe box. The heel lock. That moment where you shift your weight and explode off your foot. That needed to feel like an extension of your body. No movement lost. No energy wasted.

The best boxing boot, in my mind, should feel like you’re not wearing anything… until the moment you plant your foot and throw. Then it needs to respond. Fast. Hard. Without slip. Without drag. Like it wants to punch with you.

That’s what I chased.

The Name

Impello means “to drive forward” in Latin. But to me, it’s more than a translation.

It’s symbolic of the journey. Of pushing through every setback. Every bad sample. Every “no.” Every delay. Every cash flow headache. Every call from the supplier telling me to move on.

It’s about never standing still.

Even with Impello finally launching, I don’t feel finished. I feel focused. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned building products, it’s that the first release should set the standard, not settle it. This is just the beginning. I’ve already got new concepts in motion. New materials. New systems.

I want to build more. I want to take this to premium, to running, to lifestyle. But boxing boots had to come first. That’s where our roots are.

The Reward

It wasn’t when the boots were on screen. The branding was subtle, barely noticeable. The real win came when Junto Nakatani, three-weight world champion, wore the final version in camp and told me he was going to use them moving forward.

That was it.

That’s when I knew we’d made something real.

The Future

If I could go back to that night with Sena, I’d tell myself:

“This is only the beginning. Buckle up. Launch earlier. Get feedback. Iterate. Don’t be such a perfectionist.”

To any young boxer reading this, I’ll say this:

Hard work works. I've been in camp with some of the greatest to ever do it. And what separates them isn’t talent, it’s how they show up every single day. The way they train. The way they demand more from themselves.

That’s what built the Impello. And that’s what it’s built for.

Ben Amanna, Founder & CEO, BOXRAW.

IMPELLO COMING SOON

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