Imotana: a German revolutionizes football sho

Football is constantly evolving - and with it the equipment. Soccer shoes have long been an art of engineering. Three competitors explain what the future of the "boot" looks like for t-online.

Researcher Dr. Thomas Sterzing, Adidas sees it as a lifestyle product when it presents it in a vegan edition, Puma sees it as a huge business when superstar Neymar is paid 100 million euros to advertise it: the soccer shoe.

Or as ex-national player and Real Madrid star Toni Kroos put it in the t-online interview: "For me as a professional, the soccer shoe is the most important tool for being able to do my job successfully. I have a bond with my football boot. And I want to be as comfortable as possible in them."

Real star Toni Kroos relies on continuity when it comes to his football shoes. (Source: Annegret Hilse/imago images)

This is not just the case for world star Kroos, but also for millions of amateur footballers. They all associate emotions, stories with their pair of soccer shoes - and often above all the hope that the magic of their own idol will somehow rub off on you, at least to a small extent, through the shoe model that you have copied from them.

One criterion in particular is extremely important for Real Madrid veteran Kroos: that his shoes are made of genuine leather.

This is remarkable in that there has been an enormous shift away from classic leather shoes in football in recent years. Because the material has a major disadvantage, explains Matthias Leibitz in an interview with t-online: "In contrast to polyester, for example, leather absorbs moisture when it rains and is otherwise wet. The shoes can kickers as fast as a block on the foot ."

Plastic shoes impress with their record-breaking weight

Leibitz is the managing director of Imotana, a German start-up that wants to shake up the football market with custom-made shoes from a 3D printer. This concept cannot be implemented with leather shoes at all, because: "Our claim is that we offer our customers tailor-made shoes that fit perfectly from day one and remain so. Leather has the property that it works, for example it expands and ever loses its shape over time after exposure." This is also why the company from near Freiburg relies on high-quality plastics - and can therefore offer shoes that weigh a record-breaking 200 grams.

Matthias Leibitz: The managing director already built up the goalkeeper glove brand T1tan before Imotana. (Source: Imotana)

Adam Lyon and Harrison Cook from the US sporting goods manufacturer New Balance are certain that the market for classic leather boots is still there. Shoes made of kangaroo and calfskin are "still a popular choice for players who are looking for a high level of comfort and suppleness," emphasize the two shoe developers when asked on t-online.

Another alternative are shoes made of textile blends. According to Lyon and Cook, the advantages of such knit, yarn and synthetic fabric combinations are above all the "form-fitting fit and an excellent connection to the ball", which is due to the even texture of the shoe develop.

It is also textile blends that have enabled one of the major trends of recent years: laceless soccer shoes with a sock-like entry. Despite the countless advantages and the innovative strength behind them, large sporting goods manufacturers such as Adidas avoid going "all in" and only offering such shoes.

Roman Möhlinger, Manager PR Adidas Football, responds evasively to the question of whether football boots without lacing are the future of the sport: "We offer our football boots both lace-free and with a lacing system and let the players decide for themselves which one shoe is the best for her."

Soccer boots with laces? "Just a question of the look"

Imotana managing director Leibitz argues much more offensively. He says: "With our shoes, the question of whether or not to wear laces is just one of the looks. Because they are made to measure, the shoe is skin-tight everywhere, including the instep. There is no longer a need for laces." Leibitz also conceded the concern that the sock-like entry could wear out and the shoe would lose its close-fitting comfort. "Due to the nature of the material, there is no risk at all. The yarn is far too robust for that," says the expert.

The German start-up Imotana wants to stir up the sporting goods market with custom-made shoes. (Source: Imotana)

Lyon and Cook from New Balance go into depth: "It's important to balance the elasticity of the yarns. This means that the material must provide sufficient support throughout the game, but at the same time it must also ensure that the elasticity is not so high that the shoe feels constricting in the midfoot area and therefore uncomfortable."

For the laceless model Tekela v3+, released in summer 2021, this specifically means "that the yarns are used in such a way that they do not stretch beyond their plastic deformation limit, which ensures that they spring back after stretching and the maintain tight comfort."

The New Balance Tekela v3+ is one of the most innovative high-end football boots currently available on the market. (Credit: New Balance/Styleheads)

One aspect that, despite all the trends and innovations, is still neglected by sporting goods manufacturers is health care. A difficult topic on which Dr. Sterzing writes in his publication "The Soccer Shoe of the Future": "The effect of the shoe on injury prevention is more difficult to grasp, since when injuries occur, other influencing factors (...) have to be taken into account in addition to the interaction of shoe and surface. "

However, a connection between (the wrong) shoes and injuries can hardly be dismissed out of hand. This is also emphasized by start-up boss Leibitz, who explains:

"The standard shoe of a traditional brand is always produced in the same length and width. If the buyer has feet that deviate from this standard, he always bruises something somewhere. The longer a football game goes on, you feel such discrepancies more and more brutally. The player automatically puts different loads on the foot, adopting an abnormal posture for self-protection, which also damages the joints in the long term."

Custom-made shoes, such as those made by his company Imotana, would counteract such a vicious circle.

The big brands make a crucial mistake

While Adidas and New Balance involve stars like Paul Pogba and Raheem Sterling in their product development, Imotana mainly gets feedback from the football leisure sector - and opens up with it drew attention to an interesting contradiction in the football boot industry.

Because the boots of the big brands, such as Adidas and New Balance, but also Nike and Puma, are primarily designed and produced according to the needs of professional soccer players - but it is the after-work soccer players who make the big sales.

New Balance have optimized their football boots according to the needs of England international Raheem Sterling. (Source: PA Images/imago images)

"Amateurs have completely different requirements than professionals," Leibitz clarifies, "they don't play on the perfect floor and maybe don't handle their equipment that carefully." Nevertheless, the amateur athletes are dependent on equipment that was developed far from their footballing reality - and also pay a hefty price for it.

The Adidas classic Predator in the high-end version costs 280 euros, the top model of the Nike Mercurial 290 euros. However, the market gives such prices. "Half of my teammates in the amateur team I play in have football boots for more than 200 euros," says Leibitz, who makes it clear: "There are many people who are willing to spend a lot of money on their hobby."

He also addresses this audience with Imotana, whose shoes are available for around 200 euros. One thing is important for him to emphasize: "We offer our customers a huge advantage through customization at this price."

Start-up boss believes in a turning point

Is the soccer shoe of the future the soccer shoe personalized in the app and made to measure with a 3D printer? Quite possible - especially if larger brands such as Adidas and New Balance also open up this new division for themselves. Until then, however, they will continue to rely primarily on the innovative power of the football superstars who work with them on their products.

It should be noted that the big top dogs have not had an iconic shoe, such as the golden Predator that Zinedine Zidane wore at the 2006 World Cup, which shaped a generation of young footballers and still evokes unforgettable memories in them to this day spawned. Instead, the spreading lack of ideas is concealed with new editions and recourse to the design archive - and thus the lucrative nostalgia of the once young fans is satisfied.

In 2006, Zinedine Zidane played the last games of his outstanding football career in the golden Adidas Predator, which were made exclusively for him. (Source: ActionPictures/imago images)

All of this also raises the question: What if youth and amateur footballers no longer follow the attention-economy compulsion of having to have the latest shoe model of their idol every year? Leibitz believes that this turning point has already begun: "Not as much energy is wasted on copying one's idol as it was when I was a teenager."

In other words, "No youngster wants to wear the same boot as nine other team-mates just because Cristiano Ronaldo wore it in the Champions League last week."