Women Specific Football Boots

[Tryasize10]

Just been reading a very interesting Guardian article on football boots in relation to ones (or lack of) designed specifically for women players, the need for which has been highlighted in the increased occurrence of ACL injuries (an injury I have first hand experience of) in women playing the beautiful game. The women's game really is booming, which is great for obvious reasons and I completely agree with the following quote:

"Women and girls from grassroots level right through to elite sport deserve kit and equipment that is made specifically for them and enhances their performance".

What I don't agree with though is the next bit, which just seems like a lazy swipe to use the term "gender inequality" as a battering ram.

“It is symptomatic of gender inequality and sexism in the sports sector that the first football boot in the world designed around female feet came to the market less than four years ago. The sector needs to evolve quicker when interest in women’s sport is soaring.”

My initial thoughts are, who has done the research, who has confirmed that women specific boots are a requirement, who is going to design, or has designed such boots and holds the product patent intelligence, etc etc. Surely something like this is driven by need and takes a lot of capital investment. If there is a gap in the market, you can guarantee that someone will come up with a solution, but it needs to be a sound investment / achieve returns, its not a charity. So I cant see why its symptomatic of gender inequality as quoted from a Tory MP.

Anyway, if interested, link here:

MPs want more women’s football boots to be made and sold amid ACL injuries

Sport ‘must do better’ when it comes to making boots specifically for female footballers amid a high number of ACL injuries, a committee of MPs warned

www.theguardian.com

 

[h_m_boro]

At what level are these ACL injuries - assuming the professional woman's game? Does this happen at junior/intermediate level ie non specific boots are okay for kids/teens etc?

Cannot see the likes of Nike, Adidas, Puma etc NOT producing women specific boots as they will be quids in. Anything to make money they will be all over it.

 

[Nano]

My initial thoughts are, who has done the research, who has confirmed that women specific boots are a requirement, who is going to design, or has designed such boots and holds the product patent intelligence, etc etc. Surely something like this is driven by need and takes a lot of capital investment. If there is a gap in the market, you can guarantee that someone will come up with a solution, but it needs to be a sound investment / achieve returns, its not a charity. So I cant see why its symptomatic of gender inequality as quoted from a Tory MP.

Makes sense to me. Things are constantly being called out as sexism or another ism when the reality is that businesses make decisions based on what makes them money.

I would hazard a guess that more football boots are bought by kids than adults and there will be almost no research into what is best for kids because all of the R&D will be around the elite level performances of adults. The rest of the people, including the kids, that actually purchase them do so because of them being worn by the pros and even if there were boots available that were designed for juniors they would still buy the adult boot because they want the same as the pros.

In the old days a girls boot would be the same as the men but pink but these days they wear every colour so there isn't a men/women's colour.

Is there a difference between men and women that mean all mens boots are unsuitable for women or are different brands different? I've worn several different brands and some I find are really uncomfortable compared to others so I don't wear them.

 

[h_m_boro]

Is there a difference between men and women that mean all mens boots are unsuitable for women or are different brands different? I've worn several different brands and some I find are really uncomfortable compared to others so I don't wear them.

Fair point. I find Nike and Puma fairly narrow (I've got wide feet) whereas Adidas and Lotto are a slightly wider fit.

Would have thought it was the shape of your foot rather than a male/female thing but you learn something every day.

Just bought some boots for my lad and noticed the "womens" specific ones. Not many though.

 

[Centralscrutinizer]

This is a decent read on the matter

 

[Tryasize10]

This is a decent read on the matter

Good that, thanks

 

[Jonny Ingbar]

Just been reading a very interesting Guardian article on football boots in relation to ones (or lack of) designed specifically for women players, the need for which has been highlighted in the increased occurrence of ACL injuries (an injury I have first hand experience of) in women playing the beautiful game. The women's game really is booming, which is great for obvious reasons and I completely agree with the following quote:

"Women and girls from grassroots level right through to elite sport deserve kit and equipment that is made specifically for them and enhances their performance".

What I don't agree with though is the next bit, which just seems like a lazy swipe to use the term "gender inequality" as a battering ram.

“It is symptomatic of gender inequality and sexism in the sports sector that the first football boot in the world designed around female feet came to the market less than four years ago. The sector needs to evolve quicker when interest in women’s sport is soaring.”

My initial thoughts are, who has done the research, who has confirmed that women specific boots are a requirement, who is going to design, or has designed such boots and holds the product patent intelligence, etc etc. Surely something like this is driven by need and takes a lot of capital investment. If there is a gap in the market, you can guarantee that someone will come up with a solution, but it needs to be a sound investment / achieve returns, its not a charity. So I cant see why its symptomatic of gender inequality as quoted from a Tory MP.

Anyway, if interested, link here:

MPs want more women’s football boots to be made and sold amid ACL injuries

Sport ‘must do better’ when it comes to making boots specifically for female footballers amid a high number of ACL injuries, a committee of MPs warned

www.theguardian.com

There's a load of research and the lack of boots specifically designed for women is one main reason for the number of ACL's, another is the menstrual cycle, but I'm not sure Nike can do anything about that one.

 

[Loop]

I'm sure the mens game can help pay for them.