You scored 20 out of a possible 20 You are the (Puma) King (Was a bit lucky though, had to guess 3-4 of them, but knew the rest)
No, but that'd be nice. I only really knew the ones that were of current or very recently retired players, since I only really got into soccer, and cleats, relatively recently.
Well I'm looking at this month's Eurosport and I'm just shaking my head. I guess I hadn't taken a good look at the retail side of boots in a while. Here are some notes: Is the Messi Adizeros that much different than the standards? I only ask because it's an extra $10 for the Messi version. And to date I have not seen anyone rocking the Messi versions. I've seen people sport some of the various Nike CR specials, but no Messi versions. Speaking of the new CR7 vapors, do these people not have someone in the editorial department? It says, and I quote, in two bullet points right on top of one another "Kangaroo leather upper for a supple fit and feel with excellent ball-touch" followed by "Soft microfiber upper chosen by Ronaldo himself for high speed comfort". I mean how many people missed that? And this perhaps is my biggest issue. (And I'm going to tweet this to them and Adidas). The copa is now $150 ($135 goal club). In Feb of this year it was $110 list price. It went up $40 in 8 months?!?!? I remember when you could easily snag them for under $100 without a goal club. Are they pricing them out so that consumers switch to boots with higher profit margins because they are cheap plastic glued to plastic instead of real leather made to last? I find the pricing on boots to be redic now anyway. It's like they price them high because they're trying to max profits on them before the new color comes out in two months and everyone wants the "lime green" ones instead of the "electric green" ones. They've got Nitrocharges in the sale page at like $80 off. It's a brand new silo and they've already slashed the price because the new colors are out. Sorry for the rant, it just seemed nuts.
Well, @b0sk1 , many people would agree with you on the redic prices on boots these days, irregardless of brand. But you know, there are/would always be this group of (rich) people who would still buy the newly released boots. There's alot of such in where I live, seems that young teens these days have no idea where to spend their money on than buy the latest boots. I admit that I am like some of you, tempted by new releases or colorways but those prices put me off. When I think of the price and how much I would be spending to bring that pair of boots to where I live (across the globe), I think twice. I feel that the money can be better spent/save.
i think the price rise for copas may be due to reduced supply of K-leather. there is a big controversy surrounding how this is obtained.
Australia's overpopulated with Kangaroos. They are technically a pest (according to some). Get the animals leather, I wouldnt care, theres 34,303,677 kangaroos in Australia (estimate)
it's not a question of how many there are but the inhumane methods used by some in culling them. but it seems obvious to me that the solution isn't abandoning the use of k-leather but monitoring the methods of its obtention.
Yep, you're bang on there @guignol. However, adding stipulations and regulating the industry will drive up costs, and it's likely that - unless it becomes levied by the Australian government to encourage exports - the larger brands will still move away from it or only use it on limited edition boots, like the Puma King Luxury Edition.
If nike and Adidas keep evolving their hybridtouch/kangalite uppers, I honestly wouldn't miss kangaroo leather. Pretty much every boot I own are made with k-leather but it's hard to argue with the benefits the synthetic uppers offer these days.
we have no doubt that hybridtouch/kangalite are good materials... less care... less time to clean... I think, in the future, leather like materials and original leather will be question of taste...
I did tweet Eurosport and Adidas that night I posted, asking them how they could justify a price increase of $40 on the Copa. Eurosport (soccer.com) just DM'd me with this response: "Excellent question. Just spoke to our footwear buyer and he told me that Adidas America had been keeping the price artificially low for years. To the point where it was very much out of line with the rest of the world. That has now been adjusted" At face value its not a bad response and one that I believe. A boot made entirely out of leather, in Germany should command a premium. But what it masks is the price of the other boots they produce at a much lower cost than the Copa and sell at a higher price. There really isn't anything that can be done about it. I know that if people are willing to shell out close to $200 for adizeros they're going to sell them at that. And I'm not saying the Adizero is a bad boot, I know most people rave about them, but I think we'll all probably agree that they cost less to produce than the Copa. I know Josh wrote an article for ESPN just the other day about the Copa and he listed the price between $100-$120. Which now seems a bit off. My concern is that this may push the boot farther toward the grave. I know JC said a while ago he heard the Copa may die. We all said there is no way this could happen but by pushing the price point higher it will be a less attractive option. And if the sales go down then they can say the boot hasn't been selling as well and we need to end it.
Black Copas are still $119.99 on Soccer.com (for now, anyway.) http://www.soccer.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&query=copa mundial&N=0&Product_Id=2094[/quote]
I saw that in my catalog too. I dug out an older catalog from the earlier this year and Copas were only $109.99...at $149.99 adidas needs to add a removable insole, throw in a second pair of shorter laces and maybe a string bag.
Make no mistake about it, the $150.00 price point is here to stay with the black model and the "Samba" Copa release should clock in at about $200.00. I understand the artificially low argument, as the rest of the world has been paying $150.00+ for years. The problem is there is no player visibility to justify the cost when selling to kids that only buy what they see on TV - because boots, not practice make players skilled, you know - and for the older population that grew up on the Copa and still uses it, the $40.00 increase is a dagger to the heart and a hit to the wallet. From a pure material/craftsmanship standpoint this is the one boot from adidas that is worth $150.00, but the market that buys the boot is conditioned to a set price and probably won't accept the cost when the Premier can be had at $80.00-$100.00. Sadly, the younger market is conditioned to think the boot sucks because it is heavy (not true), no one of note uses it, and it was inexpensive. No nitwit kid is going to want a Copa because it is now expensive when they grew up thinking the boot sucks for the above mentioned reasons. Personally I think this is the beginning of the end for the Copa. As an aside....Josh is writing for ESPN now? Wow, good for him. That is motivating for me to restart my blog, if I can find the time to be committed. Also, the new Eurosport is a crock....the fold out basically says the winning goal in WC 10 was scored because of the CTR360's visibility and features, not the years of training and talent of AI. Total bullshit.
Here's a link to his post. I follow espnfc on twitter and this is the second link that I'm aware of that they have tweeted about. I hunk the first one was on the CTR III. http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/fcreviews/id/95?cc=5901
They've actually gotten Ben Perkins from Soccer Reviews to review the Wave Ignitus 2's previously as well so I think they do a fair bit of getting online reviewers to load up their reviews. But yeah, I don't think I'm the only perosn but hope to see your blog back up again! Have to agree with you. I had the Maestri 3's and the Kangalite2.0 and it was just awesome, I couldn't really tell that it wasn't K-leather that much. My only gripe with synthetics is that it doesn't mould or stretch that well to your feet. As someone with wide Asian feet and now with Nike and Adidas all going for slimmer lasts, my options have long been limited to the Japanese Releases off Rakuten or the Japanese brands.
this is true, but there's also durability. it seems to me that compared to synthetics a k-leather boot is cheaper at twice the price when you consider how much wear you can get out of it.
Hey guys. Love the site and the passion been reading here for like 2 hours before I actually remembered what I came for. (Not that I came just for that just stumbled upon this forum while on it and im pretty sure you guys can help) Long story short, Im cuban and back in 2006-2007 I acquired these lotto boots, back then I used to play soccer everyday and with cuba being as it is, you play with what you got so there is not much knowledge of boots or gear per say. Now I moved to USA in 2007 and as soon as I got here i acquired the Predators (Zidane was the only reason honestly) but even though i switched between both regularly I liked the lottos way more. Now I havent played since probably 2009-2010 but as you all might know the flame of passion for this great sport never dies. I tried dusting off my old Lotto shoes but theyre in horrible condition. I want to acquire a new pair and have no way of finding out which model they are. Would help a lot if anyone could at least tell me the model. Here they are http://imageshack.com/a/img823/6190/afca.jpg http://imageshack.com/a/img593/8237/q49v.jpg Again, love the website going to poke around on the coach section for a bit and then the videos. PS: Sorry If this is not the right thread Im still a bit disoriented