What boots should you buy? – part 4

Knitted boots are the newest trend in football boots. Now, the name sounds funny and when I first heard of knitted boots I immediately thought of an old lady sitting in a ricking chair trying to knit a pair of Nike mercurials. This is not the case. Knitted boots are made from a synthetic fabric very tightly woven together to make the upper of a football boot. Its almost a combination of a running shoe upper and synthetic material. Because of this knitted boots require almost no break-in time and could almost be worn straight into a match … although I would advise against it.

The idea behind knitted boots is that they provide a sock like sensation, where you put them on and it feels like a second skin. The pair I have definitely achieve this even though I bought the wrong size… twice. Knitted boots in my opinion are an attempt to combine the benefits of both synthetic and leather in the one material.

Knitted boots tend to weigh about the same as synthetic boots if not a little bit more. But more or less the same, they are therefore associated with being lightweight. They have also been used to drop the weight on other boots that are marketed as “control” or “power” boots. Knitted boots tend to be quite slick so what brands have done is add a layer of silicone texturing to the outside of the boot in order to help add some extra grip on the ball. This although extremely minimal also adds a little extra weight.

Knitted boots do have some give in them although not nearly as much leather. If leather had 10/10 stretch and synthetic was 1/10 then knitted boots would be around a 3 or a 4. As such they, like synthetic boots may not be the best option for people with wide feet. However special mention to Puma who have created a boot that is almost fully customizable in terms of fit with their netfit technology. I am not going to get into to it and I have not tried the boots on because I am waiting for a white pair to emerge. But if you want to know what I am talking about just google Puma Future. So while they are not the worst fit for wide footed players they are not as good as leather either.

In terms of durability again knitted boots sit somewhere in between the other two materials. The yarns are not like clothing yarns where you will have loose threads everywhere, they are more durable than that. However most knitted boots are made relatively thin and this offers both minimal protection and in very minor circumstances may have a tendency to tear when tackled.