Ozil goes laceless with adidas

Arsenal star Mesut Ozil has gone laceless with the new adidas ACE 16+ PURECONTROL boot.

The German, along with some other of the world’s best players, including Barcelona’s Ivan Rakitic, will wear the first ever high performance laceless football boot from January 23.

Ozil, who has been testing the boot in training, said: “My whole career I have tried to minimise the impact of laces on my strike and ball control.

“I revealed to adidas in 2014 that in the changing room I knot the laces over and over again and then tuck in the ends, that way they do not interfere with my touch.

“When they came to me last year with the laceless boots, it was like they have created my dream product. I cannot wait to wear them on the pitch.”

Ozil shows off the new adidas ACE 16+ PURECONTROL boot.

Sam Handy, adidas Football Vice President of design, added: “The ACE 16+ PURECONTROL is already set to become one of our most iconic releases ever.

“We’ve taken away something that has been present in every pair of football boots adidas has released – the laces. The result is a really pure silhouette and a beautiful shape. That shape not only makes it visually stunning, but most importantly gives our players an unparalleled strike surface.”

The laces have been replaced with three key points of stability to lock the foot into the boot. A TPU cage locks over the iconic three stripes to secure the mid foot, and is further anchored by a knitted upper and an internal knitted techfit locking system. The upper is an evolution of adidas’ Primeknit technology, combining tight and loose premium knits across the boot for optimum fit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rID-Oro0NXY

The result is a glove like fit, and the cleanest possible strike using a larger surface area to generate more power and accuracy.

An enlarged heel pocket and a redeveloped sole plate have also been designed to reduce the weight of the boot.

A limited number of the ground-breaking boots will be available to the public in adidas flagship stores in Paris, Marseille, London, Barcelona and Manchester, and in selected retail partners.

Click here to read a Q&A with Mesut Ozil.

For further information please visit adidas.com/football or go to facebook.com/adidasfootball or follow @adidasfootball on twitter to join the conversation.