Football Boots Vault - adidas F50.6 Tunit Football Boots
With the upcoming release of the new adidas F50 adiZero football boots, the SoccerBible has been taking a retrospective look at some of the predecessors in the adidas F50 series.
We continue our countdown with a retrospective look at the adidas F50.6 Tunit Football Boots, which introduced the Tunit system allowing players to truly customise their boot configuration...
The adidas F50.6 Tunit followed on from the hugely popular F50+ football boots, and were released in late 2005 and made available in early 2006. An innovative concept, the F50.6 Tunit enabled players to customise their boot configuration for optimum playing performance, no matter what the playing surface, colour requirement or personal weight preference.
We've chosen the Electric Yellow/Blue colourway to focus on for this feature, one of 6 launch colour releases. The series went on to include a further 4 colours, plus the limited release World Cup Upper editions. But more on those later...
By the time the adidas F50.6 Tunit football boots were released, the F50 range had picked up quite a following among some top players, boasting such world class players as Arjen Robben, Ashley Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Djibril Cisse, Damian Duff and Jermain Defoe as wearers.
There were a variety of adidas F50.6 Tunit uppers available in a multitude of colours and materials. The lightweight adiHex synthetic upper combined with either a 'Pro-Lite Speed' or 'Comfort' Chassis, to significantly reduce the weight of the boot whilst adding increased flexibility and speed of movement.
adidas included a "ClimaCool" version at launch, which featured customary air holes and breathable fabric - however it is fair to say these were recommended for hot, dry days only! We say this as one of our very own SoccerBible team will be able to share the squelching and water-filled experience when eager to try out his new ClimaCool F50.6 boots one cold, wet February back in 2006...
The lightweight adiHex 3D micro-fibre synthetic upper also provided superb ball touch and feel, combined with excellent strength and match durability. Once again adidas incorporated a lace-cover, although for the F50.6 this cover was more pronounced with a more rigid structure for shot strike.
The adidas F50.6 Tunit football boots were fully interchangeable, and could be built upon arrival at the ground depending on playing conditions. As well as either a 'Pro-Lite Speed' or 'Comfort' Chassis, the brand new adidas Tunit system incorporated more traditionally shaped 'Soft Ground', 'Firm Ground' and 'Hard Ground' Studs.
An ingenious boot and player flexibility that was ground-breaking in the world of football boots at the time, as the adidas F50.6 Tunit 'Components' could all be purchased separately to create a bespoke football boot.
For the 2006 World Cup in Germany, adidas certainly made the most of the component system by releasing a limtied run of "International" themed uppers, 32 in all. Every country that competed during the Finals had a F50.6 upper created, styled using the traditional national colours, as well as emblems and icons on the heel or around the boot.
The idea was that one player on each time would sport the boot. In reality however this didn't seem to be the case and but it did mark an innovative use of the component system on adidas' part.
Whether these boots will stand the test of time remains to be seen, but even four years on the concept - if not necessarily the execution - were a revolutionary attempt at changing the way us consumers thought about our boots for the season.
We'll let you be the judge as to whether the Tunit series, which allowed players to create a boot tailored to meet the demands of their game - to TUNIT their way - was a success or not...
Stay tuned to the SoccerBible as we continue our countdown of the adidas F50 range, to see how the boots have progressed before our official and exclusive unveiling of the next generation of adidas F50 football boots!
