Anti-Slip Football Socks Long-Term Review & Analysis - The Best, The Worst & What You Need To Know
Around one year ago, we gave you an overview about anti-slip football socks available on the market. We found out that there are not only TRUsox anymore but various different anti-slip soccer socks available - today we want to give an overview of what we experienced with different anti-slip soccer socks.
Anti-Slip Soccer Socks - Experiences & Evaluation Of The Market
First, we want to say that any footballer should try anti-slip socks. Why? Pro players get their boots customized for their needs (and therefore have less problems with slipping generally), while amateur footballer often have boots that do not fit perfectly. So anti-slip socks do usually bring even more benefits for amateur players than for pros, of which more and more start wearing anti-slip socks meanwhile.
The Best - Tapedesign
The best anti-slip socks for football that we tested were the Tapedesign socks. They are very, very thin, making them perfect for ball control and anti-slipping (in fact, rubber pads are much thicker than the material, so you "hit the ground of you boots with rubber only" ).
In case your are wondering - the pink Tapedesign socks do not feature holes because of bad quality but because we used them very, very often (many football sessions and 1000s kilometers of running...). Two pairs should perfectly last for around one season if you are playing soccer three times a week for 60 minutes.
The Worst - Gravity Gear
The worst socks were those of Gravity Gear. Gravity Gear socks are available in two versions - Performance (Comfort + Grip) and Pro (Maximum Grip / less Comfort "Match-Day").
The grip pads of the Pro version (TRUsox copy) came off after washing them (only socks with that problem at all). Those are quite a joke - they should give the money back [we got them for free from them]).
The Performance version is quite good for comfort and grip but really bad in one aspect - they are very, very bad for ball control as the fancy design is created with seams that mean that the thickness in the top part is different from front to rear... a design error that is just very, very bad. The Performance version is very good (the best?) for comfortable running with no slipping apart from that.
General Verdict
In general, it can be said that all anti-slip socks have some advantages and disadvantages. Tapedesign's socks are very thin (almost no support), the SOXPro socks might offer to much grip and others (Gravity Gear) offer to less of it for many. You might get blisters with some of the socks, especially when first used)
So, which should you get? We recommended to try the Tapedesign first. If those are too thin and offer to less support (especially for everyday use), you should try TRUsox (a bit more comfort than Tapedesign and also available as Cushioned version) or SOXPro (very much grip & good for ball control). We do not recommended Gravity Gear's product, while you can try others of fourse as well.
Anti-Slip Football Socks - Evaluation of The Market & Outlook
We personally think that there won't be a big revolution with anti-slip football socks in the near future.
However, all brands focus very much on maximizing the grip on the bottom part with anti-slip pads to still allow for a perfect ball control. There might a market for anti-slip socks that offer 360° grip. We think that this would especially needed in the heel / angle area.
Another strange think is that no / most brand do not think out of the box - there is definitely a huge market for other sports such as running, where anti-slip socks also give an advantage.
What are your experiences with anti-slips football socks? Let us know in the comments below.
