Microfiber And Sports Cleats

At Cleats-Info we see a lot of references to “lightweight microfiber” and "microfiber uppers". The major cleats manufacturers often use this combination of words to explain what the uppers (generally the top and sides of a shoe) are made from. Cleats-Info will try to explain these fibers and therefore help you in determining the quality of your next pair of cleats. However, we are still really confused about what the manufacturers mean by this term and it is very difficult to get a clear picture of what will make one type better than the next. But let’s push forward…

To legally describe your product as having fibers that are "micro", the actual material must be of a size less than 1 denier per filament. We don’t need to go into so much detail, but we can state that these fibers are twice as fine as silk and three times as fine as cotton and are usually made from polyester or polyamides (nylon).

The general and experienced consensus from the soccer universe, is that natural leather (particularly Kangaroo Leather) performs better than fiber in dry conditions. In wet conditions, it is preferred to use the lightweight micro, as this material does not retain water and therefore get heavy. Leather absorbs water and therefore the weight of your cleats can increase dramatically and slow you down, decrease your endurance over time, and possibly lead to injury. Serious Soccer and American Football Players should therefore have two sets of cleats. Baseball is generally played in dry conditions (although the outfield grass can be quite wet at times) and therefore leather uppers might be the better choice.



But we still have more to write about...

The sale of Kangaroo Leather (k-leather) is still possibly banned in California. David Beckham played with Kangaroo Leather, however when he switched to LA Galaxy he had to wear a different type of soccer shoe because of this ban or at least because of the PR concerning the animal rights activists. Adidas created a shoe specifically for David (good marketing idea) and this shoe is made from a very high end microfiber (made from PU - polyurethane). These high quality microfibers can cost as much or more than leather and specifically Kangaroo Leather.

Here is another advantage of microfiber... the amount of time required to "break-in" the shoe will be less than the time required for a leather cleat.

If you drop cherry juice on your leather cleats they will be permenantly stained, but with microfiber you might have a chance of removing the stain! : )

High-end microfiber uppers will be more durable than k-leather. In other words, they will last longer.

One last attempt for microfiber... Uppers made from microfiber can be "windproof" and "breathable". What does this mean for the player? It means that water from the outside (either from rain or a wet playing field) will not enter into the shoe and therefore keep the players feet dry. However, at the same time, moisture from sweaty feet and socks are allowed to pass through to the outside and therefore keep the players feet dry from persperation and sweat.

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