Puma’s Future is perfect for those looking to stay agile and deft. The boots provide an identity distinct from the speedy Ultra or the traditional King Platinum. Read on to know more about how the Future can help you stay in nimble on your feet.
Future Page Contents:
- Puma Future 8 Ultimate Review
- Future 7 Pro
- Budget Puma Future Match
- Entry-level Future Play
- Evolution of the Future
Recent football trends have pushed knit to the backseat, years after the successful integration of the material into the mainstream courtesy of the likes of Nike Magista and Superfly IV. The Future remains one of the few remaining options for a pair of sock-like football boots. How well they do it and how the Future perform in general is something we’ll talk about in the following sections.
Answering the Puma Future FAQs:
- Which Stars are Associated with the Puma Future?
Ever since its reinvention in December 2020, the Future has Neymar as the face of the silo. But he is not alone, having the likes of Jack Grealish, James Maddison and Thiago Silva joining him in promoting the Puma boot on the pitch. Women football stars Laia Aleixandri López and Julia Grosso are also all-in with the Puma silo.
- Are Puma Futures good for speed?
At least when we talk about boots conceptually, there are better options as far as speed is concerned. The Puma Future is geared towards agility and comfort.
Puma Future 8 Ultimate Review
Model | Quality | Pitches | |
---|---|---|---|
Puma Future Ultimate | FUZIONFIT 3 upper with LYCRA, FUZIONPODS , DUAL MESH and PWRTAPE | >> Get Future 8 Ultimate from Puma |
Fuzionfit 3
There’s a lot going on as far as the upper is concerned, and it even reminds me of the Nike Phantom VSN 2’s Quadfit tunnel. The boot has a pliable inner LYCRA layer that is then surrounded by a relatively more restrictive, semi-detached coated mesh on the outer side. A stretchy knit, supported on top by PWRTAPE, comprised the midfoot and the heel.
Hidden by the outer mesh is the Fuzionpods, which aims to amplify the sense of touch. The mesh itself contains a bit of grip thanks to the GripControl Pro coating. From a ball touch perspective, the Future gives a lot for you to like. It’s still sharp enough and seems to aid in preventing the ball from slipping away from your foot.
Flexgility
With Flexgility, the Future’s soleplate is comprised of these massive bladed studs that also have a circular formation around the toe area where you plant and pivot. In concept, it is very similar to the Cyclone 360 of the Nike Phantom. Puma has dropped the FG/AG label and has rightly focused this configuration as an FG one. Traction without question is definitely aggressive and not playable on AG. Soleplate falls on the stiffer, more responsive side of things.
Fit and Feel
On-feet, you need to have the perfect shape in order to have a 1-to-1 fit. The Lycra might be pliable, but it does feel as synthetic as the outer mesh layer. This means that there might be dead spaces here and there if your foot shape doesn’t exactly line up. Breaking it down does make the upper materials more pliable, but not necessarily giving it more sideways stretch
Be advised that the length runs at least a quarter-size long, so check whether sizing down works on you. Wide foot shapes I think would have to live with a bit of an extra space around their toes. For those who has known some of the previous Future, this length issue of the last has been a recurring point.
Lockdown and Responsiveness
Lockdown and responsiveness I believe is significantly hinged on how you feel about the heel. Relative to the previous Future, there are some big upgrades because the shape of the heel has been narrowed down, at least around the top part, and has increased padding towards the sides. But there’s still a sense that it’s a bit shallow, and so you’re then left with checking to see if the PWRTAPE does its job in locking back your foot down. Going back to that point earlier that the Future is only suitable to matching foot shapes, that becomes even more relevant if you factor in the shallow lacing. Much of the tension and wrap are limited to the midfoot, and that poses an issue regarding how much lockdown you can get around the forefoot.
✔️ Pros
- Offers a lot when it comes to ball touch
- Break-in time is acceptable
- Responsive outsole
- If the boot fits well, expect to have performance benefit from the more structured outer mesh
❌ Cons
- Too aggressive for AG
- Improved heel lockdown but still feels a bit shallow
- Quarter-size extra length and relatively fixed shape can throw a wrench in your boot-fitting
With everyone going crazy with synthetic speed boots or being traditional by sticking to leather ones, the Puma Future is a reminder why knit became part of mainstream football boots. Its advantage in comfort and socklike-sensation is sure to command a following among boot enthusiasts.
Boot Rankings, Best For…
How The Football Boots UK Puma Future 8 Boot Testing Was Conducted
A description on what goes to our boot testing can be found here. Essentially, I would be checking on the boot experience and what the Future 7 has to offer on its own. It is inevitable though that comparisons will be made, and being that we have been following the Puma Future for a long time now and have covered earlier generations, I also sought to bring some perspective to the evolution of the silo. Puma runs a three-silo lineup, though arguably it’s the Future and the Ultra that are way more popular as far as the brand is concerned. Therefore, I added a brief section putting the Future and the Ultra side-by-side.
Future vs Ultra: Which Puma boot to get?
The good thing about the Future and the Ultra is that regardless of which boot you get, both are way more affordable than other popular boots. It is also nice that the boots are completely different in construction and fit and feel. As mentioned a while a go, the leading football boots today are based on speed and has synthetic finishes, and the Ultra presents itself as a competitive option in this category. The Future, on the other hand, is all about comfort, freedom of movements, and agility. In terms of fit, narrow feet players usually go with the Ultra and those with more width opt for the Future.
*Takedown reviews to be updated upon release
Future 7 Pro
The Future Pro are less premium than Neymar’s boots, but the two still have that quality feel nonetheless and made even more attractive by its significantly cheaper valuation. It retains to a certain extent the Fuzionfit upper, Dynamic Motion System tooling, and PWRTAPE support. What we can say is the the Future 7 Pro, given that it gives you around 90% of the Ultimate experience, might actually be the better. Besides the fact that it is cheaper, I think that the less tensioned PWRTAPE here gives the Pro an edge over the Ultimate when it comes to comfort.
Model | Quality | Pitches | |
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Puma Future Pro | FUZIONFIT+ upper with PWRPRINT and PWRTAPE | >> Get Future 7 Pro from Puma | |
Puma Future Pro+ | Same dynamic with the Elite; Pro makeup in a low-cut finish | >> Get Future 7 Pro+ from Puma |
The only other thing you’re going to miss out here is the toning down of the PWRPRINT texture. I do feel that it’s not big of a factor for most people in marking down the Pro relative to the Future Ultimate. So if you like the overall experience of the Future Ultimate, the changes in Pro are really not that significant to change that experience, making it the better buy if you are given a choice.
Budget Puma Future Match
Model | Quality | Pitches | |
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Puma Future Match | FUZIONFIT upper with PWRTAPE | >> Get Future 7 Match from Puma | |
Puma Future Match+ | Laceless FUZIONFIT upper with PWRTAPE | >> Get Future 7 Match+ from Puma |
The budget Future is where the price decrease is noticeable because of the cheap synthetic mesh and stetchy knit, as opposed to the high-performing materials found on the top Future tiers. Match also has a cheap nylon liner and a more solid and weighted feel to the TPU soleplate. TAPE is limited to cosmetic function. It’s in the Match where you’ll also find a dedicated laceless option on top of the usual laced model.
Entry-level Future Play
Model | Quality | Pitches | |
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Puma Future Play | Textured Synthetic upper | >> Get Future 7 Play from Puma |
Evolution of the Future
The Future silo started in 2017 and became popular for its Netfit system, allowing you to customise your lacing with its multiple lace hole options. Over time, the Future became less and less about Netfit, and in 2021, overhauled that closing system with the launch of the Future Z and its Fuzionfit, which currently informs the make of the Puma agility boot.
Future 7 Ultimate
Future 7 didn’t change much from the Future Ultimate. DMS was still there and the dual mesh was still the dominant material for the upper. Much of the change was on the PWRTAPE, which sat on the top of the arch instead on the sides of the boot. The material had also been streamlined to cover the tongue area.
Future Ultimate
By the end of 2022, Puma gave us the Future Ultimate. In this Future, the forefoot dual mesh is extended towards the sides and the quarter, providing a more consistent feel throughout your foot. That revamping of the Fuzionfit360 coverage left the integrated tongue and collar to be comprised of a stretchy knit material. One thing distinct to the Future Ultimate is the introduction of the PWRTAPEs positioned on the lateral and medial sides.
Future Z 1.3 and Future Z 1.4
If you had the Future Z 1.3, you were not missing much in the 1.4. The 1.4 simply changed the pattern of the meshed medial and the textured lateral sides of the Advance Creator Zones. Apart from that, you were still going to get the expanded Fuzionfit+ midfoot compression band, the Grip Control forefoot coating, and the uber-comfortable sensation its sock-like build delivered.
Future Z 1.1 and 1.2
Right out of its introduction, the Future Z was already performing above-average in terms of comfort in football boots. The first construction of the Fuzionfit system, however, was focused heavily on the midfoot, resulting in a less streamlined feel where the midfoot had all the tightness and the forefoot less restricted. In-character with Puma, the Dynamic Motion System remained the same throughout the several generations of the Future Z.