Behind every athlete’s success story, there is a pair of signature shoes.
Sport gears hold an important rule to the athletes’ performance. No matter how talented and skillful an athlete is, he cannot be as successful without choosing the right gears, including shoes.
In terms of choosing the right shoes, it is not just about the quality, but also about its compatibility with the athlete. It is all what it takes to help the athlete brings the best out of himself.
World-class athletes don’t even have to worry about choosing one from the options available on the market. They have their shoes custom made for them to suit their needs. Plus, they get paid instead of paying for the shoes’ price tags.
We gathered ten pair of shoes worn by these world-class athletes. They may not be the most expensive, but they are definitely the bestsellers. Let’s take a look!
10. Floyd Mayweather – Reebok
Boxing may be more of an upper-body sport. But the legs movement is also crucial. The late Muhammad Ali knew it best. Before you can sting like a bee with your hands, you need to float like a butterfly with your legs.
The use of shoes in boxing is important to keep you moving swiftly yet to prevent slipping. You cannot afford being knocked out by your shoes in front of the million viewers.
Floyd Mayweather, the highest-paid athlete, wears the Reebok boxing shoes. These were custom made for him. And they are not sold for public. However, the replica was sold in a limited edition for approximately $300 per pair.
Mayweather’s Reebok endorsement was unfortunately ended. The boxer is known for his splurging lifestyle. One day, he went into Nike’s store and spent thousands of dollars. How did Reebok find out? Well, he posted it on his Instagram. This is one of the reasons why he does not have big endorsements like other world-class athletes do.
9. Cristiano Ronaldo – Nike
It should come as no surprise that shoes are important for football players. The shoes cover their ultimate weapon: their feet. They help them produce the best pass and the decisive goal.
Cristiano Ronaldo is arguably the current best football player in the world. The 31-year-old Portuguese has been acknowledged by the entire world in terms of his football skills. His reputation started to blast when he joined Manchester United.
It was also the start of his swarming endorsement deals. Among them is Nike. He has been wearing Nike throughout his entire career. He is endorsed for Nike Mercurial series.
He would alternate between Nike Mercurial Vapor or Mercurial Superfly. Each of them is available for you at official Nike’s stores. The Nike Mercurial Superfly CR7 was first launched in 2014. Each pair is bundled with $280 price.
8. Serena Williams – Nike
The reigning world’s number one female tennis player is known for her outrageous fashion on court. Her custom made Nike shoes say it all.
The relationship between Serena and Nike started back in 2004. She signed a deal with the company for $40 million. The deal is not only for the shoes, but also her entire tennis apparel.
As most tennis players, Serena has different set of outfit for each tournament. And for each type of court, a tennis player needs a different set of shoes as well.
Since 2015, Serena wears the NikeCourt Flare. It is engineered specifically for her with its stability through a lightweight minimal design. You can get the same shoes for $200.
7. Alex Rodriguez – Nike
Alex Rodriguez is one of the top baseball players in United States. For more than 15 years, he has been the prima donna of MLB. Off court, his style gives him the same predicate.
Rodriguez wears two different color schemes of shoes, depending on the uniform he has to wear on the game. He alternates between Nike Shox Fuse and Nike Shox Gamer. Each of them costs around $100 in retail.
Baseball shoes are crucial for the players. The spikes are designed to help them move around both clay surface and grass surface.
Rodriguez received $1 million per year from his Nike endorsement. Unfortunately, it has ended after he was banned from MLB for the entire season.
6. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg – Puma
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are the current leading drivers in the F1 Grand Prix championship. They are on their way of becoming this year’s world champion of the most expensive sport in the world.
Their racing apparels are as exclusive as the sport. Puma custom made their racing boots under the license of both Mercedes AMG Petronas team and FIA.
These racing boots are light and thin. They should fit into the driver’s cockpit and produce the proper amount of grip on both throttle and break paddles.
Besides the racing boots for Mercedes’s drivers, Puma also manufactures racing gears for Ferrari and BMW team. You can have these boots for $109 here: Lewis and Nico Racing Boots.
5. Gareth Bale – Adidas
Gareth Bale may not be the best football player in the world yet. But he is certainly the most expensive. Leaked documents of his transfer to Real Madrid in 2013 proved that. The Spanish football club paid €100.8 million to get him.
Adidas is currently paying Bale around £10 million per year for an exclusive deal. In 2014, the company launched the new Adidas F50 Crazylight with Bale.
Just like its name, the Adidas Crazylight features the bright colors like crazy. As seen on the picture, Bale was wearing the neon orange-yellow ones. Other options available are the neon blue-green and combined ones (half orange-yellow, half blue-green).
If you are interested in hurting other players (especially the goalkeeper) in the eyes with your crazy colored shoes, get one of these for $130.
4. Maria Sharapova – Nike
Maria Sharapova is the proof that tennis tournament is a great platform for endorsement. Because it is an individual sport (that means all eyes on just two to four players on court) which lasts up to six hours per match.
Unlike other athletes, tennis players have many kinds of on-court endorsement. For Sharapova, one of them is the Nike Zoom Vapor ($140 per pair). This topic is discussed in this article: Tennis Player’s Accessories: The Top 10 List.
Unfortunately, Sharapova is currently banned from all tournaments due to substance abuse allegation.
Sharapova’s relation with Nike is really special. In January 2010, she signed an 8-year deal for $70 million with the company. This is the most lucrative deal ever for a sportswoman. Plus, she has her own Nike’s apparel line: “Nike Maria Sharapova Collection”.
3. Novak Djokovic – Adidas
The reigning world’s number one tennis player has been wearing Adidas since he turned pro in 2003. However, the contract between him and Adidas was not as smooth as his current career in tennis.
In 2009, Adidas decided not to extend their contract deal with Nole. But then in 2011, Adidas made a custom series of Adidas Barricade 6.0 with Red and Blue color to represent Serbian flag’s colors.
The Adidas Barricade Novak Pro series is available for retail with $140 bundled price. For each series of tournament, Nole has been wearing different color scheme of the shoes.
As seen on the picture, he wears the White and Red Adidas Barricade to match his apparel for the clay court tournament series.
2. Valentino Rossi – Dainese
Valentino Rossi has become a legendary athlete, not just in the world of motorsport, but also in the world of sport as general. Wherever he goes to race, his loyal fans will come to support. For some interesting facts about Vale, please take a look at this article: What You Need to Know about Valentino Rossi.
In terms of racing gear and apparels, Vale is as loyal as his fans. After he won the world title, he was entitled to using number 1 for his bike. But he refused. He sticks to his signature number: 46.
Same goes to his racing boots and leathers. He has been loyal to Dainese even since he started his Grand Prix career in 1996.
Every racing gear is custom made for the racer. So, you cannot buy the exact same racing boots as Vale’s. But you can get the replica for $400 per pair. Why is it more expensive than football shoes and even F1 boots? His racing boots are made to protect his feet from contacts with the track surface while inclining on fast turns.
1. LeBron James – Nike
The 31-year-old basketball player wraps up our list. Since he was scouted at his early age, three big shoes companies (Nike, Reebok, and Adidas) had battled for his signature on the contract deal. Nike won the battle with $90 million.
His endorsement with Nike has been a part of his basketball career. It started in 2003, as he wore the Nike Air Zoom Generation. Since then, there have been other 12 series of shoes Nike manufactured for LeBron.
The latest one is the Nike LeBron 13, as seen on the picture. It comes in some variety of colors. It is available for retail with $200 bundled price.
So, are you thinking to buy any of these shoes? Even if you don’t play the sport, you still can wear some of them as a part of your fashionable style.
