Crazyquick vs Elastico

            As winter has arrived, and practices and games are moving indoors for many soccer players, Adidas has released their indoor-specific line of shoes. All under the name of FreeFootball, the collection is made up of four different shoe styles, with a variety of indoor court and artificial turf selections. Overall, I think that the shoes have a good look to them, all offering a fairly premium look with a color scheme that adds to the quickness that they are trying to sell.

One quick look at the FreeFootball Crazyquick shoes, with any knowledge of indoor shoes, and you will see a resemblance to Nike’s Elastico Finale II. The Elastico has NikeSkin, a type of mesh synthetic upper to the shoe, and the Crazyquick employs Adidas’ own similar material. While I won’t go into major detail about the materials, they are basically both a mesh with a plastic overlay to form a flexible upper. This material then is meant to form tightly to your foot, giving a somewhat sock-like feeling in a lightweight shoe. While I haven’t been able to try on or use the Adidas Crazyquick, I do own a pair of Elastico Finales and they do a great job and feel fantastic.

 Whenever two major brands such as Nike and Adidas come out with a similar product, many are quick to point fingers at either side to label which side copied the other. As in most cases, while they may look similar, I don’t really think that any copying was involved here. First of all, shoes go into development way before their release, and while Nike released their mesh upper shoe before Adidas, it is still possible that Adidas was looking into the idea before Nike. Also, the actual basis for the upper, a mesh synthetic with a plastic overlay, is definitely the direction for soccer cleats, indoor or outdoor, as it allows for extra reinforcement where it’s needed while remaining flexible. Really, only the pattern of the upper on the Elastico is what may have influenced the Crazyquick, with a raised honeycomb-like texture across the top. However, both sides, along with many other brands have had raised elements to their shoes, and this pattern seems to make the most sense for a minimal texture.

That is pretty much where the similarities end, and the shoes offer very different performances. First, the Elastico Finale is meant to be a flexible, lightweight indoor shoe, and really became the first indoor shoe to give a sort of barefoot feel. The mesh part of the upper on the Crazyquick, unlike the Elastico, is much denser, giving a sturdier, and therefore heavier, feel. This shoe comes in at around 11 ounces, which is considered heavy by the Elastico’s standards, but a pretty average weight for an indoor model. Also, the entire back is exposed mesh, compared to the Elastico’s upper being the same all the way around. The Crazyquick comes in at about 80 dollars while the Elastico is slightly more expensive hovering just above one hundred dollars. Overall, while the material for the upper may appear similar, the shoes fill completely different categories of the game, and both options well suit players that prefer either style.