- What boots is Gareth Bale wearing? This is Blake from FootballBoots.
Co.
Uk and today we're going to explore and investigate the very curious and puzzling tale ofGareth Bale's boot history.
Currently in his fourth season at Madrid, Bale's been an ever-presentAdidas contracted footballer for the majority of hiscareer, but currently and for the past five or soseasons, Bale has done a Neymar and has had Adidas customisethe boots specifically for him.
Today we'll be briefly goingthrough his boot history and looking at his customisedboots and why he prefers those options over thestandard retail releases.
Beginning his career at Saints, making his professional debut in 2005, Bale was an early endorseeof the three stripes, headlining several rangesin his youth career, including the gunmetal Predator Mania he wore as a youth player.
We're pretty sure Bale donned a pair of Adidas F50 trainers onhis debut for the Saints.
The trainers wererevolutionary back in the day.
This could change the soleplate and appetite to suit the playing surface, andthis technology did not die as it has been remade intothe new glitch launch in 2016.
When bought by Spursis 2007, Bale again hit on the trainers at the startof his Tottenham career.
Starting out as a left-back,Bale swiftly moved up the field to become oneof the Premier League's best swingers from 2009 to 2013.
Voted the PFA Player's Playerof the Year in 2011 and 2013, Bale soon became one of Adidas'smost marketable athletes and he began to featurein product launches around the F50 adiZeroIII was launched in 2012.
Bale's stunning 2012-13 season, which included 21 Premier League goals, was done so in the Adidas F50 adiZero III or mycrutch 2 boots,which in a way solidify his relationship with the three stripes.
From what I can remember, theadiZero III was what I call a very light-weight synthetic boot, 165 grammes if I can remember,was the official weight of the boots, making itperfect for Gareth Bale, who as we all know, is lightning quick.
The boot used a super thinand lightweight sprint skin upper design with a sole foot using their trusty sprint frame with traction2.
0's stud configuration.
Upon Bale's arrival atReal Madrid, he wore the Electricity F50 adiZero III boots.
The watchman arrived atthe club for a whopping 80 million pounds, aworld-record fee at the time.
Bale laced up in the 2014 F50adiZero originally launched in late 2013.
Taking inspiration fromthe previous generation, the boot opted for a muchsofter hybrid touch upper on the forefoot, while thesuper thin and transparent speed foil material lightenedthe weight of the boots even more.
Bale was a key Adidasrepresentative in the launch of the adiZero Forwardsas he's seen here wearing the solids as launch edition prior to the 2015 FIFA World Cup.
Bale also was seen by Adidasas their key professional in the marketing and launch ofthe adiZero Crazylight boots launched in March 2014.
These boots weighed just135 grammes, and Bale wore these boots for a fewmatches, including against Barcelona in El Classico.
Wearing both the twoprevious F50 adiZero boots without any customizations, Bale's first changes tohis boots were done so in the 2015 F50 adiZero solar.
The 2015 F50 adiZero wassomewhat disappointing.
Well, that's my point of view.
It featured the same technologies used on the two previous generations without any major improvements.
Instead of a half-half-upper design, the boot opted for acomplete hybrid touch design increasing the weight ofthe sole and making it less flexible than theprevious generation.
A completely new speedtraction sole fit was used and opted for a three heel stud design, never seen before on an adiZero, and an array of smaller grooves and studs on their forefoot whichwas much more aggressive.
Designed to mimic a sprinters spike shoe, the goal was to increasetraction and acceleration.
But did professionals like Bale like this? Yes, for some, but Bale, no.
Bale of course wasprobably the biggest name along with Luis Suarezto market the 2015 F50 as he's seen here in the Adidas There Will Be Haters campaign.
Bale yet stood with thisboot using the same upper and lacing system, but whatdid he do with his sole plate? He simply switched thespeed traction sole plate with his own trusty sprint frame system used on previous F50 solars.
This sole plate did usethe three heel stud design but had no extra studs on the forefoot.
Wearing an array of colorways,Bale wore this custom boot for six months beforeswitching to Adidas's X boot, which replaced the F50 range in mid-2015.
Bale again was key in themarketing process for Adidas's new revolution scene,revealing the X 15.
1 here.
The X 15.
1 completely changed the game and this boot looked the part.
The boot offered a brandnew upper dubbed X skin, which in my eyes seemedlike a similar material to hybrid touch, but muchthinner and more flexible.
I think it was on obviousupgrade from the 2015 F50 adiZero and many professionalsand youth troopers alike liked this model.
But did Bale actually wear this boot? The answer is again yes and no.
Bale himself seen hereplaying his former club Spurs is wearing the launchedsolar yellow X 15.
1 Yes, with all the same features but one.
The upper, colour and lacingsystems were all the same, but the sole plate was different.
Dubbed the X-claw, this wasprobably the worst thing about this boot.
It had several smallergrooves and studs not overly needed on a forward boot,and Bale himself again opted to customise the solarwearing his trusty sprint frame sole plate.
The biggest give away isthe external heel counter which pokes out at theback like a sore thumb.
Adidas of course triedto make this boot look exactly like the retailversion, but again it won't go unnoticed.
Bale wore several colorwaysof the X 15.
1 boots, including the solar rededition, which matched perfect with the red colours of Whales.
If we can again compare theblack, white, pink X 15.
1 and the retail version.
The retail version obviouslylacks an external heel counter featuring an internal heel counter.
This is probably thebiggest giveaway of Bale's custom boot.
Here you can see Bale waringthis boots for Real Madrid seeing the big white externalheel counter at the back.
Another solid giveawayis the sole plate ridges here on this image youcan see the three ridges running down the centre of the sole plate.
The retail versionlacked any sort of ridges between the forefoot andheel of the sole plate.
But why would Bale do this? Like on the previous 2015 F50,Bale switched the sole plate and our best guess is that heprefers the old sprint frame sole plate all becauseit's reliable, comfortable, and perfect for his foot type.
Several professionals do this.
I remember Robert VanPercy did this with his F50 adiZero boots as well.
When scoring that memorableWorld Cup header goal at the 2014 World Cupwith the 2015 F50 adiZero, he wore the adipower predator sole plate.
Again, like Bale, he does thisfor comfort and reliability.
Maybe it's a superstitiousthing, but Bale may have had a good season with thesole plate and he now wants every boot to feature this same chasse.
Who knows.
Now onto Bale's currentsolar, the X 16 range, officially revealedpre-Euros and mid-2016, the X 16 did something different by releasing not just onepro-level cleat option but two.
First of all Bale himselfmarketed the premiere boot of the X 16 range, theX 16 plus purechaos.
Bale seen here revealingthe Mercury launched purechaos model, but did theWelsh wizard wear the spoof? No, he did not.
He opted for the cheaper butstill pro-level X 16.
1 range.
This is currently the boot Bale's wearing, but the plot thickens even further because at Euro 2016,Bale opted for his trusty X 15.
1 boots in the black,white, pink colorway.
In the group stages,Bale needed free kicks against Slovakia and England,and soon after he scored, Adidas posted on theirsocial media platforms him wearing and holdingthe purechaos boots.
Even though Bale still only 15.
1's.
Crazy, I know.
As soon as the 2016-17 season started, Bale moved to the X 16 range, switching to the X 16.
1speed of light edition, which was solid rigged from heel to toe.
We had to ask ourselves, "HasBale customised this boot?" The simple answer is yes.
Most of the boot looks the same, but this out of any bootsBale has worn recently has been the mostcustomised boot of the lot.
The first obvious customfeature seen on Bale's previous X 15.
1 is hissame external heel counter and spring frame sole plate used.
From the side angle we can clearly see the big external heel counterand that same stud system on the forefoot.
From another angle, we maythink the upper is different to the standard syntheticused on the X 16.
1.
We feel it could potentiallybe used in the upper of the purechaos.
The purechaos's upper ismuch thinner and softer than the X 16.
1's boot, andas you can see in this image the upper looks very thin and soft.
A picture of the stellarX 16.
1 boots which Bale didn't actually wear for a match, gives us a super closeup look at Bale's boots.
External counter is obvious to see, while we also notice thatthe tongue construction opts for a traditionalcentral lacing system.
On the retail version of the X 16.
1, it uses a no-tongue designwith external laces.
On this image, Bale hasopted for a traditional tongue system with eyelets.
The upper potentially looks different to the standard version, while we can also see anadditional panel around the toe grips of the boot,potentially for durability.
Since the tongue construction has changed, this meant Adidas have hadto slightly alter the teeth.
The colour as you can seeit looks a bit different to the standard retailversion, because it does not roll over to the current no-tongue system.
Bale's current weapon ofchoice is the red leather X 16.
1 cleats.
This image of Bale in trainingreally gives us a good look of how flexible the upper is, much more so than the X 16.
1standard retail version.
Bale more or less is combiningthe purechaos and x 16.
1 together, which makes senseas the cold cut lace cover on the purechaos can be ahard feature to adjust to at first.
That is pretty much all wehave to say about Bale's boots.
HE like many Adidasprofessionals like to customise their boot perfect forhim, which yes makes sense as players do deserve toget a say in what they wear.
But if you're a kid outthere wanting to wear Bale's exact boots, then you'll benot impressed that they don't actually make this into a retail version.
Bale boot is redone, shouldAdidas make this version for the X 17 range? Please vote in our poll.
Cutting out, and thanksfor watching as always.
We'll see you next time.
Source: Youtube
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