With a move that seemed to come without any actual warning, adidas might now (finally) be able to claim one over their biggest rivals. Taking their knitted material to the next level, the three stripes will now offer their ACE series in a totally laceless design once 2016 rolls around.
This morning, boot fans and gear nerds alike were treated to a blacked out adidas boot that was totally devoid of laces. In their place we see a knitted material that looks like really tightly knitted PrimeKnit that continues around the collar of the boot. The rest of the upper, from what we can tell, is probably the PrimeKnit material, but with a slight coating over the top of the adidas marvel (much like what we see on the other PrimeKnit release). For a brand that took the first jump on a boot that offers the ultimate fit, it comes as a logical step forward to try and provide that ultimate fit without any laces being necessary.
The journey to a quality laceless boot is nothing new. One of the most notable attempts came in the form of the original Lotto Zero Gravity, but the synthetic had very little give and the fit was only going to accommodate a sparse few. Reviewers and players alike have been saying that the knitted options from Nike and adidas both have a nice squeeze without really tightening the laces, but the fit isn’t at the point with those boots where you’d want to play without ever tightening up the lacing system. If adidas can provide that with this ACE 16, it would be a massive win for a brand that blew everything apart only a few months ago.
The information on these boots is almost non-existent, and even the boot leak websites have been devoid of anything factual on this upcoming release. We have no clue how many will be released, what the price point will be, and when we will actually see these boots on the shelves. Considering how difficult it is to keep information hidden (i.e. Tiempo VI & the standard ACE 16.1), it is absolutely amazing how adidas was able to pull something like this off. The only issue we really have with something this unique is from the German brand’s track record. Remember the last time they only showed off a boot concept without giving us any information? The FS PrimeKnit…and we all know how that went over…or…well…didn’t go over. We hope that this boot has slightly more positive results.
Keep an eye here on The Instep and we will let you know as soon as anything concrete becomes available on these boots. As we said, everything on this boot is still total speculation…but we are 99.9% sure that adidas wouldn’t keep such a massive innovation on the sidelines during the upcoming European Championships. Outside of that…it’s anyone’s guess.
(but we cannot wait to test them!)
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