Whilst a most people are dreading the 2012 for fear of a Mayan-predicted apocalypse, football boots fans now have something else to be terrified of; yet another price hike.
Speaking at an annual forecast presentation, Puma Chief Executive Jochen Zeitz warned that Puma would be forced to raise their prices by a small margin at some point in the coming financial year.
Compared to a fruitful 2011 for Puma, Zeitz said that the rising cost of materials such as cotton meant net profit margins were becoming slimmer, and the German brand would ‘definitely’ be raising it’s prices in 2012 – before ominously adding ‘maybe sooner’.
This news from Puma comes on the back of Nike and adidas making similar announcements at their forecast conferences, anticipating that the rising cost of materials will narrow their margins and force them to raise the cost of their products.
Whilst football boots weren’t specifically mentioned at the conference, it’s fair to say that they’ll be included in any price increase, simply due to the fact they take at least 3 or 4 different materials to put together.
All this comes just a month after adidas pushed the adiZero from £120 to £135, the adiPure from £100 to £120 and the Predator_X from £135 to £150, and Puma pushed the newest v1.10 up to £135 from £120.
The good news comes in the form of target-surpassing 4th Quarter results for all the companies, with many analysts declaring that the World’s 3 Biggest sportswear companies have officially ‘overcome the financial crisis’.
Meaning that even if there’s some pain in the short term, Nike, adidas & Puma fans can look forward to their favourite brands continuing to develop new products, ads and sponsor players – generally keeping business as usual.
It’s obviously bad news for any football boots fan, but here’s hoping the impending price increases are kept to a minimum, rather than the 10%+ jumps we’ve seen in the last couple of months.
If the Mayan prophecy wasn’t enough for 2012 now we have to worry about higher football boots prices.
Wow, if we barely want to pay 400 for elite range soccer shoes what makes them think anyone would really pay 400+? for that price the shoes better be amazing, the box amazing, and the carrying case better look cool and useful. I’m a Nike fan but I can see adidas beating Nike with the adizero since those are lighter than the superfly II and cheaper.
I can’t believe they said “anticipating that the rising cost of materials will narrow their margins and force them to raise the cost of their products.” and expect us to believe this is the reason. The cost of materials even on a Nike Superfly II is not more than 50 dollars. It would be more convincing if they said their cost to make players wear them are ridiculously high. Especially after seeing the new Superfly III which is exactly the same boot with a color change, Nike has no right to claim costs has risen. Can’t wait to see soccer boots for 1000 dollars…keep em rising guys. In fact lets have Ronaldo and Messi play with a new colorway each game:) that would shorten the lifecycle.
I am starting to lose interest in the high end soccer shoes… $300+ I can buy D&G, LV, Gucci, Y-3, etc shoes which I can wear comfortably everyday and impress some people along the way.
I remember the good old days, three years ago, when preds were $200, Lasers $180, Adipures $130, Legends $130, VAPORS $200.. it seemed the companies were afraid to go over the $200 threshold.. Now it is “uncool” to be seen wearing shoes at that price point..when will this end?
I hate this.This is why I don’t own any cleats newer than from 2009. Just recently I got some dirt cheap Vapor IVs brand new off of eBay. That is how I handle it, but this is ridiculous. And I wouldn’t be so pissed if quality was better. Nike, and Adidas are now making crap cleats. Superflies are terrible, but the amazing Vapor IIIs were only 200$. Adizero Primes are crap, but the F50.7 was awesome and that was sub 200$. I guess what I am saying is not only is inflation going up, but quality is going down, too. We need to stop settling for this and buy older cleats that are unused but have already been manufactured. And if you have old, nice cleats that aren’t battered to hell, give them to your friends so they don’t have to spend so much money. RIDICULOUS!!!
This is ridiculous. Many of these top companies could still make a very good profit by dropping 25% off their current product’s prices. This isn’t that much to do with material prices going higher, its more to do with greed. I guess I’ll be buying a lot of boots this year and hope they can last a while. 🙁
Do not be surprised if Nike lowers their prices during 2012…trust me ;-).
This is insane. If these big companies stopped paying so much for their sponsored players AND not making a new colorway every month, there wouldn’t be a need to raise the prices. Because of stunts like these (increase price, lower quality, just add a new color to make everybody think it’s worth $400 *cough*Superfly*cough*), I still have my Predator PowerSwerve… I out grew my older Tiempos. If not, I’d still wear them. Guys, don’t fall for these scams.. You’re better off paying $100 less for a pair of cleats with same technology, old colorway, than giving these assholes an extra $100 just to change the color of your boots.
Pricing is tough – but you need to consider the number of people that are involved in the chain. Factories, Retailers, Distributors and consumers. If the cost go up and retail prices dont increase someone is missing out and losing money. It can be a store, a factory or brand (Concave) buisnesses close and people lose jobs.
Its a tough balance.
Lol where are the only Mercurial Talaria’s and the Vapors? They where soooo expensive and high end at the time , and now you can buy them for nothing(the miracle).
is this some kinda shit or what? this niggas cant just raise the prices of the boots,damn aint dat a bitch, this folks get so much from the clubs and their supported all over the world even in the fucken hood this niggas are supported and now they want to raise the prices dats some kinda bullshit madafuckers damn aint dis a bitch or what? fuck y’all of ya