How to choose boots and not get lost in their huge variety?

It’s good if you are not your first year in football and have already come across the selection of playing shoes more than once, since a beginner in this business is simply lost when he sees the huge variety of models that the market now offers. Today we will try to answer the question of how to choose a boot and at the same time tell you how the football boot market works. Why do we see new products coming out every month and why does each brand have such a huge assortment of goods? Let’s figure it out.

This article will be useful for both beginners and those who still want to understand how everything works and, so to speak, feel the “inner cuisine” of global brands. Also, this article will help you find out how the monthly releases differ from brands, why there are so many colors and so on.

A little about brands

To understand how to choose a boot, you first need to understand the first stage of the market division – brands. Today, many different companies manufacture football shoes, but about 5-6 representatives can be considered serious players on a global scale. We think you can guess who is one of them, because for this it will be enough to look at the assortment presented in all stores where the products of almost the same companies are presented.

At this stage, the buyer needs to give preference to a brand that can have its own unique history, experience in the production of shoes, proprietary technologies and distinctive design chips of boots. For a beginner, most likely, it will be difficult to do, because here with experience comes the understanding of which company products it is more convenient to run in, who does better, and, in general, many people choose at prices that differ from different brands, respectively.

Silhouettes of boots

The second step is silhouettes. A silhouette is a collection, a line of boots of a particular model. Typically, each brand can have several basic silhouettes in one calendar year that they develop. For example, in 2018 Nike has only 4 active silhouettes, Adidas has the same number, and Puma developing in this direction has only two so far.

What is it for? Isn’t it easier to make one line of shoes, because it’s easier and so people will be less confused? There are several main reasons for this state of affairs:

1. Marketing move… Let’s say the boots can be split depending on the player’s position on the field. Defenders – their models, forwards – theirs. In fact, the boots are technologically almost identical for both attackers and defenders. These boots are for fast players, and these are for the most technical. Again, there will be practically no difference between them.
2. Design features… Let’s say you have a wide foot. So you need a special boot with a wider last, adaptive support system, and so on. If the manufacturer offered only one option, then it is unlikely that you would be able to find something suitable for yourself.
3. Wide range of… It is easier for manufacturers to divide potential buyers into groups according to their financial capabilities. For each group, they are ready to offer their products. It is also a psychological moment. The buyer will always come where there is a choice and he can choose something personally for himself, and not the only model that the company imposes on him.

Category

The third stage is the category / level of the boot. These are subgroups that determine the quality and manufacturability of a shoe. Most often, most manufacturers have 3-4 such levels:

1. Club – very simple models
2. Amateur
3. Professional
4. Elite – the most expensive and technologically advanced models

Moreover, the silhouette (appearance) will be very similar for each of the four subgroups, but the quality of materials and the availability of certain technologies will differ significantly between the club and elite options. This division allows people with different incomes to buy a popular model and enjoy life. And, you see, not everyone needs a professional model, but they want to run in boots of just such a design. This is where the division by class and price comes in handy, when one model comes out in both the premium version and the budget one.

An important point. Top manufacturers understand that their popular models have recently become heavily copied. The launch of the lower price segment will allow customers to purchase branded products at the price of the same counterfeit and at the same time win in quality and style.

Sole

Models in each price class are available with several types of outsole, adapted to different playing surfaces. Typically, soles are of the following types:

• with iron spikes;
• with plastic spikes;
• with spikes for synthetic fields;
• centipedes;
• flat / futsal sole.

Understanding the name of the models

In order to figure out exactly how to choose boots, it is important to correctly read the name of the models, where the following information is encrypted (we list them in sequential order):

• brand name;
• silhouette name;
• shoe level;
• sole type.

Take the Nike Tiempo Legend VII Elite FG boot for a good example. Disassemble: Nike (brand name) Tiempo Legend VII (silhouette name, number indicates generation) Elite (level) FG (outsole type). If there is still a prefix Kids or Jrthen these are children’s models. Everything is simple here!

We count

Let’s count. We will not take any specific brand, but we will count purely symbolically. If a company has four main silhouettes and each of them is divided into 4 more classes, and each class is divided into 5 types of soles, then it turns out that only one company produces about 80 models per year. The silhouettes themselves are almost unchanged from year to year, although there are some adjustments in terms of minor design changes or the addition of some kind of technology.

But not everything is so simple in this story, because most of these 80 models are updated in color approximately every 1-2 months. There is nothing innovative here, because the colors change and that’s it. Models released in one style / color are called a pack or, simply, a collection. These packs have now begun to be timed to some kind of event, since just releasing a huge number of boots in a new color is clearly marketing, and if you add a little sense to this and devote to something, then this radically changes the matter (but this is not for sure;) ). And now we count. For a year, such packs can be issued from 6 to 12 times. What is it for? Frankly, this is how manufacturers encourage us to buy new models, that is, pure marketing. It is worth considering that each such novelty in a fresh livery will cost more than the basic version released half a year ago, although technologically they will be identical.

But that is not all. There are also collaborations. This is when a model is released either with a famous person / athlete, or with another brand. As you may have guessed, this collaboration often changes only the design of the boots, without touching their technological essence. Usually such issues are limited and cost all the money in the world, but you always have to pay for a big name. And then there are irregular releases, all sorts of remakes of classic models, and so on …

Let’s sum up the final count. We have already realized that each brand simply churns out its products in tons, practically offering nothing new. In just one year, purely within the framework of the release of different packs, the same Nike may have about 80 models, taking into account all levels and types of soles. That is, the turnover per year is at least 480 to 1000 pairs (we count from 6 to 12 packs per year), if we take into account also collaborations and other releases. And this is with four basic silhouettes! Just think about what a huge number there is for just one brand!

This is just crazy! Therefore, it becomes clear why people have a banal question of how to choose boots, since it is easy to get lost in such a huge assortment. We hope we have separated the situation at least a little and this information will help you make the right choice. Keep in touch!