Back in November 2015 we revealed details of a new laceless boot from adidas. Today we reveal that football boot, the Ace 16+ Purecontrol.
Roll back 10 years. Chelsea win the Premier League. Barcelona beat Arsenal in the Champions League final. Italy win the World Cup in Germany. Oh and Italian sports brand Lotto release the first laceless football boot.
Today, German sports giant adidas have released their latest boot and there’s not a shoelace in sight.
adidas ACE 16+ Purecontrol
adidas have rolled out their latest update to their ACE silo and as you can see, it’s a bit different.
Compensating for a lack of lace to secure the boot, a TPU cage secures the mid foot area, supported by a Primeknit, knitted upper and an internal knitted techfit locking system.
The upper of the new ACE 16+ is made from Primeknit, which is essentially a knitted upper, combining tight and loose premium knits across the boot. It promises zero wear-in-time and moulds to your foot like a…. sock.
adidas have added a thin layer of raised dots to the upper, these help your control of the ball on contact.
The ‘biggie’ with this football boot is of course that it is laceless. As you can see, the top of the boot is smooth where you’d normally find laces. With no edges, or additional material in the way, any contact with the ball is just between you and your foot shape.
On the flipside, the ACE 16+ uses the adidas SPRINTFRAME outsole, featuring an oversized heel cup. It’s lightweight and provides stability which is essential in the modern day football boot. The eleven conical studs provide a stable platform for use on firm grounds and 3G / 4G.

Prototype 1
The inspiration for a laceless boot started with our players. Listening to their experience, insight and challenges resulted in an exciting new design. This early prototype shows much more support on the heel and side of the boot.
Prototype 2
From a first sketch and initial design the boot evolved based on everyone’s experience throughout the process. The visible support details are now balanced with a much cleaner design, showing a higher sock-like upper and an internal knit support system.
Prototype 3
Our players are a central part in the development of the boot. They test, see how they feel, how they look. The player feedback helps to make adjustments step by step, until we’ve reached a result that performs to adidas’ standards.
ACE 16+ Purecontrol – The first knitted Laceless Boot
The final result is a unique and pure football boot. It feels like wearing a trainers without compromising on stability. The ACE 16+ Purecontrol is reduced to only the simplest, most needed parts possible. Never before have your feet been this close to the ball.
Players: Mesut Ozil, Ivan Rakitic and Oscar
Colourway: Color Solar Green/Shock Pink/Black
Retail Price: £230
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stealing from lotto. disappointed in you adidas.
Love your pure control Their amazing