I wrote this post WEEKSSSS ago and since then there have been many exciting bootie updates! Hence "Part 1".
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| Did you all read it in the voice?? |
I was trolling Hypebeast a few weeks ago when this happened: "Adidas unveils the world's first knitted football boot"
And then THIS happened: "As Adidas unveils its Samba primeknit, Nike teases its own knitted Magista"
(⊙ω⊙)
I. WANT. THESE. Which ones? Both, all.
(⊙ω⊙)
I. WANT. THESE. Which ones? Both, all.
Confession: 1. I do not own the Nike Fly knits so I have no idea what a fully knitted sneakers feels like. 2. My current turf cleats are kind of a bummer and I'm a little over due for an upgrade, not to mention I haven't worn real cleats in years. Which means that I am no expert when it comes to football boots.
I really like how the Adidas shoe looks, clean and minimal. I like the multi-color yarn which gives the boot an overall "earthy" tone and the blue laces offer a nice contrast. Plus I find the colored studs give it a little playful feel. I was going to say cute, but I don't think that's what Adidas is going for. But I still said it.
I really like how the Adidas shoe looks, clean and minimal. I like the multi-color yarn which gives the boot an overall "earthy" tone and the blue laces offer a nice contrast. Plus I find the colored studs give it a little playful feel. I was going to say cute, but I don't think that's what Adidas is going for. But I still said it.
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| http://www.soccercleats101.com/2014/02/27/adidas-samba-primeknit-worlds-first-knitted-soccer-boot/ |
The idea behind the Samba Primeknit is to create a "second-skin" boot without compromising performance; offering everything you've come to expect from a leather boot but with a new level of flexibility. I think it's off to a pretty good start considering the boot only weighs 5.8 oz, (your traditional leather football boot comes in a variety of weights ranging from 5.1 oz to 11.7 oz). Actually, that being said, the Samba Primeknit isn't even Adidas' lightest weight, their F50 adiZero Prime is at 5.1 oz. But anywhoo.
Each Primeknit is made from a single piece of yarn creating a single upper boot - I had to look that up because I had no idea what a single upper was. The lovely people over at soccer.com do a great job of breaking down the parts of a boot and also offer a nice little glossary of the different types of boots. Basically an "upper" is the top part of the boot, everything above the insole, one piece, no seams. Today most football boots are single uppers. Traditionally, boots used to have an underlay and an overlay. So in essence, the Primeknit is just one single pattern piece above the insole. Yes?
In order to retain the performance of the shoe, well more so to actually make the shoe wearable on the pitch, it is specifically engineered and knitted together to give support and stretch where needed. This is achieved through the tension of the weave; the tighter the weave the more support, the looser the weave the more flexibility. For further performance reassurance, they tested the boot between the months of September and December to ensure that the yarn would hold up through the harshness of cold weather and rain, (apparently those are the harshest months). As a result, the yarn is covered in a "high-precision" coating making the boot water-resistant. Do I detect a hint of lining inside the boot??? If so, does it still count as fully-knitted?? I need to put my paws on them...
In order to retain the performance of the shoe, well more so to actually make the shoe wearable on the pitch, it is specifically engineered and knitted together to give support and stretch where needed. This is achieved through the tension of the weave; the tighter the weave the more support, the looser the weave the more flexibility. For further performance reassurance, they tested the boot between the months of September and December to ensure that the yarn would hold up through the harshness of cold weather and rain, (apparently those are the harshest months). As a result, the yarn is covered in a "high-precision" coating making the boot water-resistant. Do I detect a hint of lining inside the boot??? If so, does it still count as fully-knitted?? I need to put my paws on them...
There is mixed anticipation over the release of both shoes. I LOVE reading through the comments on Hypebeast. A. Most importantly they are HIGHlarious and B. It's a good way to get a sense of what people are thinking. The general consensus is thus: will the engineered tension and reinforced knit actually protect your little piggies from the big bad studs? Anyone who plays will tell you that even the toughest kangaroo leather won't do much to protect you. How well will the the yarn hold up to the rain and mud and overall soggy pitch? Again, even regular leather boots gets soggy and heavy BUT we are talking about a covered leather shoe vs a knitted one with considerably more points of entry. And will it stretch out? I personally think that regarding this concern the Samba Primeknit is in favor. It's a synthetic yarn with stretch and recovery built in, something leather will never have. I think if anything it'll mold to the wearers foot like a...well, "second-skin".
Weel lucky for us the boot debuts tomorrow March 17th but PSYCH, because it is super limited edition, Adidas only made 150 pairs and apparently they will not be traveling across the pond to dear 'ol 'Murica... so yea, aanndd they are already sold out...sooo. This little bootie is not cheap. It costs a cool $350 compared to other boots, (although some can cost up to $250.00).
**UPDATE**, (the only upside to procrastination). Turns out the Samba Primeknit made its debut today. Lucky Luis Suarez of Liverpool had the honor of wearing them during their match to Manchester United and he even scored a goal! Should we keep an eye out for the Primeknit at this years World Cup?
