Posted by Stuart Grimshaw | Posted in boots | Posted on 08-08-2009
With the new season about 5 hours away as I start to write this, we’re going to take the opportunity to have a look at the latest boots from our favorite manufacturers. Nike, Adidas and Umbro have all launched new boots in the runup to the new season, some more expensive than others.
Nike launched their new Mercurial Vapor boot, retailing for about £129 and comes with soft or hard ground cleats. The image on the left shows the firm ground cleats and the more conservative black and yellow colourway, but as usual with these things they come in all sorts of whacky colours, if you choose the orange or lime green variety, you’d better get yourself some good shin pads too!
If you’re feeling particularly frisky why not go for the Superfly version of the boot for an extra £100? That extra cash gets you Nike’s Flywire technology. Inspired by a suspension bridge, Flywire is a thread developed in house by Nike that’s designed to help shoes offer both good support while remaining lightweight. Nike claim this long stitching acts like an extra ligament to guide the joints in the foot in the right direction and have come a long way from the duct tape across the designers feet mentioning in this article from Nike.
Over the summer Adidas have refreshed their Predator boot with the Predator Powerswerve TRX, and as usual they come with firm and soft ground versions. The predator TRX comes with Adidas’ Dynamic Power Pulse system which shifts weight in the boot to “the exact point of impact”, with the ball I assume, “to get total power transfer”, sounds expensive, and it is at £129.99 but all it means is that there is a little weight at the front of the boot to move it’s center of gravity further forward.
The predators also include smart foam which adapts and changes to the way you kick the ball, so you get more power or more shock absorption, whichever you need. Cutting through the marketing jargon, what this means is that because the foam deforms, it gives you a longer contact with the ball, making it easier to control the ball, and the rebound as the foam takes it’s shape again gives your shots a bit more power.
Reebok’s top of the line boot, the Valde Pro retiails at £99.99 and, wait for it, comes in soft & firm ground flavours. It’s headline grabbing feature to try and win your hard earned pound notes is it’s Power Unit, it’s basically a stiffer boot to keep your feet in the right shape while your playing. The Power Unit also adds power to your shots (is there anything that doesn’t?)
