TOP 5 FAILED FOOTBALL BOOT TECHNOLOGIES OF ALL-TIME!

Technology has become a huge part of our everyday lives .

In fact , if it weren't for technology , you wouldn't be watching me in this youtube video right now .

It's made certain things that we do significantly easier and it's actually made certain parts of our lives a lot more complicated .

And of course , with any new technology , sometimes it works out great and sometimes it doesn't work so well .

Like my camera right now , what the heck is going on some kind of glitch ?

What's going on guys , Josh , from soccer reviews for you dot com , bringing you the top five failed soccer cleat technologies of all time .

Much like the rest of our lives .

The current soccer cleat market is very much driven by new technology , new concepts and new ideas .

Everybody's trying to invent and release the next big thing that hopefully will catch on obviously , drive a lot of popularity to the brand and hopefully increase sales .

If you look at some of the most popular soccer cleats out there right now , they're the most high tech ones currently available .

But with all of these new ideas and technologies being introduced , they can't all be great there are some of them that are quite simply major fails and those are the ones that we're going to be focusing on in today's video .

Now , please keep in mind that all of these picks are based on my own personal opinions and experiences with all of these soccer technologies .

There are many other failed soccer tech out there aside from the ones that I'm going to be discussing in today's video .

So whether you agree with me or you have some picks of your own , there are no wrong answers .

Let me know what they are down below in the comments of this video .

Also , if you guys enjoyed the top five series on this channel , don't forget to support this video with a like .

And if you're new here watching for the first time and enjoying what you see , don't forget to hit that subscribe button for daily videos on all the latest and greatest soccer gear with all that said , let's get right into it technology .

The five spot on this list goes to the Puma V Construct three , which was the final generation from the V Construct series that came out in 2008 .

Now , the reason why this makes the list is not because of one specific technology , but more so a combination of elements and running with the concept of designing a pure defenders boot with the concept simply being taken way too far where he ended up with a shoe that lacked any kind of ball field was extremely bulky and also very , very heavy to the point where basically nobody wanted these at all .

So what makes the V construct three the ultimate defenders boot ?

Well , the base of the shoe is really nice .

It's kangaroo leather .

And in fact , I'd say all the materials on this shoe are actually quite premium .

The issue here is that there are so many different materials , so many different layers and so many different pieces to this upper that none of it really makes all that much sense when you have them on your feet .

The base of the shoe is kangaroo leather .

You can see it here in white , but look at all the segments .

You have a panel here , it's divided by the form stripe .

Then you have a panel here , it ends at the heel that's all covered in foam and plastic .

Then you have a panel here on the medial side that splits all the way around here .

But then they also have a cut out for this extra Puma logo that's just more bulk and more thickness from a cheaper synthetic material .

Then you can see across the top of the toes , you have this blue nylon with a really thick foam pattern that actually has quite a bit of firmness to it .

And then this kind of curled over leather edge that's very bulky and fairly hard on all of the edges .

Lots and lots of stitching And then of course , this goes into an off centered lacing system , which is backed by this fold over flap tongue that actually is a full length tongue that runs all the way across the top of the foot that's also made from that same padded material .

So you have layers and layers and layers of leather and synthetic and nylon .

And this padding across the top of your foot and across the top of the toes where you basically end up with a shoe that feels quite firm , feels quite stiff , really offers no for the ball .

Yes , there's plenty of protection because this is a defender boot .

But if you're just going to be tackling , I guess this is great if you plan on doing anything else and you want a premium feel , it's not necessarily the greatest thing in the world .

The heel area has this firm foam .

It has this giant heel counter , which I personally don't have any issues with that area of the shoe and then the soul plate and stud pattern , it's fine , but it's very thick .

It's very stiff , it's fairly bulky and the overall weight of the shoe 12.5 ounces in size 9.5 us , which is essentially double the weight of the top end models that we have right now .

I think it's pretty clear to see why nobody wanted these back in 2008 and I don't think anybody would even want these today when the box has a window , you know , it's going to be good at the four spot .

We have the Dior Cao a boot with interchangeable pieces , not for the sake of performance or a better fit or better comfort or really anything all that important aside from just changing the color way of the upper watch this technology .

Now , unlike all the other boots on this list , the Theodora Cao was not really a top end model .

It was a more budget oriented product from Theodora .

I want to say they retail between 70 and $100 .

I don't remember 100% .

They came out back in 2013 .

And as far as I know , they only came out in this one color way .

The concept is that you had an inside piece and an outside piece .

Does that sound familiar ?

Yeah , it's basically the Adidas glitch .

Now , however , the Adidas glitch is significantly better than what these you can see .

The outside shell of the shoe incorporates the upper the heel area , the sole plate as well as the stud pattern .

And essentially all the inside piece does , which they included neon yellow and blue inside of the windowed box basically includes a neoprene lining material across the top of the foot filling in the central portion where a tongue would normally be .

And then of course , an insole which does have an extended piece around the back because ultimately , this back piece was just solid plastic , rubber , silicone , whatever you want to call this stuff .

All I can tell you is that it feels absolutely horrendous since I've had the opportunity to try so many different soccer cleats over the last six years , people often ask me what's the most uncomfortable or at least the worst shoe that I've ever tried .

And quite simply that might be the Theodore cao is the equivalent of turning a rubber boot into a soccer cleat .

This rubber silicone plastic upper has absolutely no stretch or any kind of give to it whatsoever .

So once you put on , even before tying the laces , but once you tie the laces , even if you leave them relatively loose , the upper feels like it is constricting your feet .

It is extremely uncomfortable .

No amount of break in time is going to change that because again , it's a solid plastic upper that has no stretch to it whatsoever .

So you just feel like your feet are constantly being squeezed in every direction , which is not a pleasant feeling whatsoever .

The heel liner is brutal , especially considering that there isn't really a heel liner with the plastic shell .

And this internal piece that's supposed to act as a heel liner has no real way to kind of lock in place .

It slides around on you on the inside of the shoe .

And again , just feels pretty terrible because the upper is so stiff that makes the soul plate feel completely stiff as well .

And then also it's got ventilation or basically holes at the bottom of the soul plate in the four ft and heel as well as perforation through the upper to allow your feet to breathe through what are essentially rubber boots in the form of soccer cleats .

However , if you plan on playing in wet weather at all , expected the entire inside of the shoe to fill up with water and essentially retain it because again , it's made out of plastic .

These are quite simply terrible .

But fortunately for us , Theodora does have a patent on this particular design .

So no one will be able to copy it at the three spot .

We have the Adidas F 50.8 tune it with the failed technology being what's called a less car , essentially the clear heel that runs into the bottom of the shoe as well , essentially making for the very first heel material that certainly looks very cool because it's completely see through .

But you're essentially sitting in the back of your heel directly against fairly rough plastic to be fair .

You could make an argument for the entire Adidas Tune system which was basically comprised of an upper a soul plate , which they called the chassis .

And then of course , the studs themselves very , very cool concept , but it was never really executed properly .

And again , the Adidas glitch is kind of the evolution of what Adidas originally did with the F 50 Tunes , but focusing specifically on the 2008 F 50.8 , tune it where they introduced this clear heel technology , which they introduced for the sake of actually bringing the weight of the shoe down .

The F 50.6 and F 50.7 were both relatively heavy shoes .

And guess what ?

The F 50.8 it's also pretty heavy in a size nine us being that this was Adidas flagship speed boot at the time being that this does have all the lightest elements to it because you could add heavier elements if you want better comfort .

This in its current lightweight form factor weighs in at 11 ounces and it's a speed boot .

So if the clear heel isn't making these any lighter , then what's the benefit of it being there in the first place ?

Well , that's why it's a failed technology .

There really isn't any benefit .

In fact , there are several downsides .

Now , I will say from a visual standpoint , I actually think this looks quite cool .

I thought that back in 2008 and I still think that's the case today .

However , because it is completely clear , some of them did have a colored tint to them depending on the color of your socks with the color of your upper .

It could actually end up looking a little bit strange .

It's also worth noting that because this is completely clear and essentially just plastic once you actually start wearing these and there's some heat inside of the shoes , which is inevitably going to happen , you end up with condensation on the inside and it kind of fogs up and again , looks very , very cheap .

However , the big issue here is the fact that this is essentially just a hard plastic heel counter and it's firmer at the base of the heel .

And then as you get to about this point right here , I'm not sure if you guys can see that seam on camera , it transitions into a much softer , much thinner rubbery material .

So this back part is actually quite structured where this part is actually quite soft and flexible .

The thing is if you look closely , you're going to notice that it does have this circular pattern running through .

That's not just there for the sake of cosmetics , that's actually embossed circles on the inside layer of the material itself , which means that not only are you sitting directly against plastic with your heel where there's no extra pattern and no heel liner , all of these circles embossed are actually quite sharp around the edges .

So what ends up happening is that if these don't fit you absolutely perfect , your heel is going to slip and it's basically going to be rubbing against a fairly sharp textured heel lining material that is going to result in some pretty significant blisters .

This is a pair that I got as a kid and simply could not wear .

I literally wore them a couple of times it tore all the skin off the back of my heel and a lot of people experience the exact same thing with these if you got the perfect fit and you had fairly tough skin at the back of your heel and it wasn't an issue for you , but for the vast majority of people this just did not work for , I think , fairly obvious reasons .

In 2016 , Adidas released what many believed to be the first ever Lace soccer cleat the Ace 16 Plus Peer Control , which was extremely well received .

But what if I told you that this was far from being the first ever lace boot .

In fact , the first lace soccer cleats came out 10 years earlier , which brings us to the two spot , the 2006 Lace lotto zero gravity .

Now , if you ask a lot of younger guys who are 16 years old or younger , they may have not even ever heard of the brand Lotto before .

And that's because they're just not super relevant anymore .

But in the early two thousands and I would say all the way through the nineties , they were extremely popular .

One of the most desirable brands of soccer cleats that money could buy .

It's an Italian based brand with this lot of zero gravity actually being made in Italy and in 2006 , when they released this , this was kind of on the cusp of obviously , Adidas was always popular but Nike was really on the come up with a lot of synthetic boots like the Nike Mercurial Vapor Three , which was very , very popular at the time .

So this was a lot of kind of straying away from making very premium , kind of simple leather shoes and going for something synthetic and lightweight and obviously as different as possible to try and start a brand new trend .

And that trend that they were trying to set was lace boots .

Unfortunately , it just didn't work out and I think had a lot to do with the price of these things .

These retailed in 2006 for $300 .

I know a lot of people like to complain about soccer cleats today being way too expensive .

But if you consider $300.10 years ago , that was outrageously expensive , more so than anything that we have today .

Now , unlike the lace boots that we have today , the lot of zero gravity does not feature any knitted or elasticated materials , which I think if you were to try these versus some of the modern lace stuff , you would instantly realize that these are so much more difficult to put on and take off .

And then once they're on , it's really , really difficult to get the proper fit because the shape of the shoe is more or less predetermined .

There is no stretch , there's no sock like sensation to something like this .

It's more so just if your foot fits , it's going to work out .

If your foot is not this exact shape , they're just not going to work out .

And even if they do fit you properly , it might not be the best experience .

I remember that as a kid , I was always intrigued by issue but because of how expensive it was and because it was lace kind of a risky thing at that time , I never really begged my parents for a pair .

But once I got a job and was able to get them at a discounted price because he's never really sold all that .

Well , I went and got a pair and found out that they were never going to live up to the expectation that I had in my mind , they just didn't work out for my foot type .

Basically , what this upper is made up of is lot of kind of signature synthetic material that they were using at the time .

It's soft , it's thin , it's flexible , it's padded , it's actually really , really nice .

However , the top part of the shoe which basically spans the entire four ft toe box area going all the way across the top is made out of what is a pretty thick , very , very strong rubber material .

And there's also an extension piece of that rubber material here across the back .

You know , the internal lining basically has no extra padding to it whatsoever .

It's just a soft synthetic suede , which means that there is a lot of extra space on the inside of the heel and it's relatively wide , which I think is partially why so many people struggle to get a really good fit out of the shoe .

But big thing about these is actually putting them on and taking them off .

Yes , it's a low cut model .

And yes , the opening looks quite big , but this top piece does not stretch like I am pulling as hard as I can and this rubber just does not want to give .

So the opening to actually get your foot in , this is really , really small .

And what ends up happening is your socks kind of catch on the edges of the rubber and then bunch up and I've actually ripped socks trying to put on lace , lotto zero gravity .

So it really is a pain as far as actually , once you get your foot in inside of the shoe , again , there's no adjustable .

It doesn't have that same kind of stretch around your foot sensation as modern lace boots do and their solution to try and enhance the fit or at least be able to adjust the fit was to include two different sets of insoles , a regular set that I have right here .

These came with the shoes , by the way , that are basically kind of a regular insole thickness .

And then a second set that has a much thicker foam layer on the bottom .

Again , in an attempt to eliminate extra dead space inside of the shoe .

I really didn't find that either .

These insoles made much of a difference for me and I could just never get a comfortable fit out of the shoe .

They never really fit me properly and I really struggled with blisters in general discomfort in the heel area .

Needless to say I bought a pair of , once I got a job just to try them out , but only really wore them a couple of times and then pretty much just gave up also for those that didn't know the A 16 plus peer control technically isn't the first lace boot from Adidas .

They actually released a lace upper variation that you could buy separately of the F 50 Tunis because typically those were purchased in a kit that included an upper a chassis as well as the studs themselves .

But you could buy this separately .

I want to say they only released it in like one or two different color ways .

I've never seen anybody with them .

I've never held a pair in my hands .

I've never tried a pair myself .

So I can't comment on how good or bad those were .

But technically , that was the first lace boot from Adidas and not these , these were just the first ones that were widely available and obviously caught on as far as popularity is concerned , which brings us to the number one spot on this list , which is , you know , let me just show you the Serafino fourth edge A K A , the Topo boots introduces one of the most unique if not the most unnecessary boot technology that we've ever seen before .

And that is of course , a solid flat surface , reinforced , rubberized plastic toe that allows you to kick the ball with your to as hard as you'd like as many times as you'd like , completely pain free .

And they don't market this as necessarily an advantage in regards to close in tight situations and being able to generate more power with your toe .

Instead they market this as a technology that you can use instead of actually learning how to kick the ball properly .

Why ?

Now I recently made a test video playing in the Serafino fourth edge .

So if you want to learn more about them or you want to see what it's like to wear them , I'll leave a little pop up on screen .

You can go ahead and check out that video .

But essentially the conclusion that I came to with this particular product , is it something that yes , does technically work as advertised ?

But does that mean that it necessarily needs to exist ?

In my opinion ?

The simple answer to that question is no , and that concludes what I believe to be the top five failed soccer technologies of all time .

Of course , there are many other failed technologies that I did not mention in this video and perhaps I can make five more boot technologies that completely failed in the future if that's something that you guys would like to see .

But if you did enjoy this video and perhaps would like to see that second one .

Don't forget to support this video with a like as always , if you have any questions for me , feel free to leave those down below in the comments and I'll do my best to get an answer out to you as soon as I possibly can subscribe .

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Other than that guys hope you enjoyed the video .

Thank you so much for watching and we'll see you in the next one .