81 football boots are the culmination of decades of football boot development. Some of the developments we have incorporated, others we don't like and have discarded. The result is a stylish modern thinking, retro looking football boot. We like our football boots a lot and we hope that you do too. Below is an explanation of our thinking and reasoning for making the boots in the way we have...

Black leather

In the 1990s and 2000s the football boot market has been flooded with coloured boots. We don't like coloured boots. Mainly because we think that black looks far better. But also because they often stand out like a sore thumb and can draw unwelcome attention to the player wearing them.

Up until the 1980s football boots were nearly always black. We like black. It's versatile and embodies class. It's a common feature of all 81 football boots.

Studs

Since the 1950s the most common type of outsole has been the screw in stud. This type of sole offers increased durability, as when studs wear out, they can simply be taken out and replaced with new studs. Screw in studs are also flexible, as studs can be changed (be it material or length) according to the playing surface.

We also believe that screw in studs are much safer than the modern bladed boots. Blades are essentially long, narrow pieces of plastic or metal and have been known to cause terrible injuries to players in the form of gashes, and also knee ligament and metatarsal damage (more detail can be found in The Foot section).

We believe there is no contest. The screw in stud beats the blade in every way so we have used them on all 81 football boots.

50s lace effect

During the 1950s most football boots looked like the boot shown below. The ankle was raised for extra protection with white laces / straps going under the sole of the boot and wrapping around the back to support the high ankle.

In the 1960s the high ankle disappeared. There were a couple of reasons for this; firstly the game had become less physical, meaning that less protection was required; secondly, the game was faster, meaning the boots had to be lighter. With this lower ankle the white lace straps vanished too. However, we like the way the old boots looked so we have incorporated a 50s lace effect on all 81 football boots.

It's basically our signature, a strap (well, stripe) dropping from the laces to the sole, and also wrapping around the back of the boot.