PUMA Men's King Platinum 21 Fg/Ag Soccer Shoe

Product Information

Synthetics have come a long way, and to be quite honest, after a short break in session, the upper softened up to such an extent that I could barely tell the difference between this and the Puma King Platinum. Unlike the old school Puma King that had a more accommodating fit, the King Ultimate is slim fitting, and I’d even go as far as to suggest that it’s the most narrow boot in the Puma link-up today, even more so than the Puma Ultra Ultimate. It’s also made of from recycled industrial waste and a more sustainable product – something Puma have really grown into as a leader in the sports equipment industry. However, the Puma King Ultimate does not feel like a revolutionary enough update to the boot – we could repeat what we wrote for the King Platinum and the review would still be true, sans changing k-leather to k-better.

KING LOSE ITS CROWN? I PUMA King Platinum 21 review DID THE KING LOSE ITS CROWN? I PUMA King Platinum 21 review

The old-school stud pattern, which mirror the iconic range, means the Vegan Kings don't offer the supreme traction of a New Balance Furon or a Nike Mercurial but that doesn't really matter. Kings were always built for defenders and midfielders rather than speedy wingers and these feel on-brand in that regard. Let’s get the elephant out of the room. Despite having been associated with classy, luxurious leather, Puma have completely dropped it for something they’ve called K-Better. Especially in today’s line up where both the Puma Future and the Puma Ultra have shifted towards thinner uppers – with the Future Ultimate losing the padding that the Future 1.4 had – the King struggles to carve a niche among their line up.The Puma King Ultimate is objectively a good boot and one we would recommend, especially to speed boot fans with a narrower foot who play on AG, especially with all the speed boots on the market today trending towards a wider fit. The world is changing, with experts advising us all to take greater care over our meat consumption, so why should football be exempt. The Puma King Platinum 21 Vegan is a great way to do your bit, without sacrificing style and comfort. Dribbling is sharp, thanks to the thin upper that allows you to feel more of the ball. The low pointy toe box and tighter fit also gives you the confidence to manipulate the ball thanks to the boot wrapping your foot extremely well. Time will tell if they're just as robust – and beloved – as the undisputed kings of Sunday League football, but the Puma King Platinum 21 Vegan football boots made an excellent first impression on us.

PUMA Launch The King Platinum 21 In Two Classic Colourways

The socially-aware, futuristic new design retains much of the Puma King's traditional style, but with a refreshing new spin on the iconic range. Players who are vegetarian or vegan, or those who are merely inclined to use fewer meat products in their every day life, will be particularly interested but, given how fresh these are, plenty of carnivores will be seduced too. We recommend going true to size if you’ve got a narrow or medium width foot. Definitely go half a size up if you have a wide foot, and even then we recommend taking it slow to break it in due to how narrow it is. The boot also sees a fairly significant weight drop – coming in at 205g in our US9 – making it the lightest King ever. Much of this is down to the new tooling that’s made of a new material and features a mid-foot spine, external heel counter and classic conical studs. The Puma King Ultimate feels like a leather speed boot FFT's first thought when squeezing into these boots was that they felt quite snug. They push the foot in and feel tight and it's possible you'll want to buy half a size up (a problem we've encountered with Puma football boots in the past). However, after they've loosed up a little they soon felt very good.We’d have liked to see Puma be braver with the King refresh – if it’s a Control boot, give it a pass pad, control zones – something for people to associate the new King with and carves a special place for itself in today’s boot world. Overall this is a solid boot, which were just as enjoyable while playing as they were while unboxing. It gets the BOOTHYPE stamp of approval for AG surfaces, and feels like the only true FG/AG tooling in the Puma line-up. The Puma King Ultimate is a Prince in waiting K-Better also allows Puma to do more with the upper. Where a leather upper would have required the Formstripe logo to have been stitched on, K-Better allows it to be moulded directly on to the boot.