Ever notice that sometimes the same shoe might be manufactured in different parts of the world? China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Bosnia, Italy. Does it matter?
I once tried buying a specific pair of Adidas cleats because I thought they were made in Brazil. Turns out the pair I bought was manufactured in Indonesia. That was actually a funny story – read about it here.
But that got me wondering… why ARE the same shoes made in different countries?
Turns out that this is simply a logistics strategy. Cleats are a global product and are usually manufactured and stored for long periods of time before their release. Thus, large cleat manufacturers like Nike, Puma, and Adidas must be able to manufacture and store shoes all over the world in strategic locations.
Adidas for example has over 1,200 factories in 65 countries! But unifying supply chain standards and policies ensure that shoes made in different factories come out the same.
This is true of all the large companies and it makes sense – they wouldn’t be in business very long if they made the same cleats with different qualities of construction.
No matter where they are made, they are using the same machines and materials so the quality of your shoe should be the same no matter where it’s being made. Unless they are Cristiano Ronaldo cleats or Wayne Rooney cleats – in which case they will hand make custom boots for you like in the video below!
