adidas 11Pro SL

After an impressive experience with the LZ SL and a genuine thought that adidas have made their SL-line actually worth the extra money that they ask, I was certainly intrigued to bring in the 11Pro SL as soon as it slid across SoccerPro’s shelves. Would the kangaroo leather and SL additions make the 11Pro SL a superior version of the 11Pro or just some slight changes to the cosmetics of the typical release?

For extras that you snag with this release, you will get some extra insoles whether you decide .05 oz. make a big difference in the feel of your boots. You also get an extra pair of laces to decide exactly what your boots look like and a string bag to carry your boots around in. Not necessarily items that justify a $75 price jump, but definitely extras that we wish were available with more releases.

soles and laces for 11pro sl

For our first impressions, we have definitely been impressed with the snug fit out of the box and we can’t wait until it is accompanied by the glove-like feeling that quality leather reaches after a few wears. For sizing, we definitely went true-to-size here and the boot feels great. We did have concerns about the typically wide adiPure bleeding over the edges of the F50 sprintframe a bit, but we have not had any issues with that so far…but we will definitely keep that in mind as the review edges closer.

The upper does not have the memory foam inserts of the current non-SL 11Pro, but the quality of the leather still gives it a very cushioned feel. A feel that would probably suffer if adidas had inserted the memory foam additions on this particular model. As of this moment, it definitely feels like this current 11Pro SL should be the actual heir to the leather speed category and would be my easy first choice over the current leather F50.

While there is still testing to be done with this beauty, there is little doubt about the move that adidas has made in their SL realm. Gone are the constant musings about what adidas were expecting us to think the price jump was for except to feel superior to your fellow players. While $250 is still a bit steep for any boot, at least adidas are making sure that the premium releases actually have a premium and superior feel to the alternative models. So far, so good…but only time will tell.

11Pro SL closeup

 

Tags: , , , , , ,