The Good, The Bad And The Could Be Better: Sokito's Boot Sustainability Survey

“The most sustainable boots are the ones you already own”.

Our Founder was on point during a recent podcast when asked about sustainable football boots, however..

As a brand that needs to sell stuff, could that come across as a bit contradictory?

Well, yes and no. Our end goal is to develop a circular football boot. Designed to last, kept in play for as long as possible then recycled into materials to make new boots. Reuse, repair and recycling are core principles of the circular economy so it’s important to talk about them.

While we chip away at our boot recycling scheme and R&D into material innovation, we were keen to find out what players up and down the country thought about things like maintenance, buying second hand and repair.

We partnered with 9 County Football Authorities to ask their members to share their attitudes and opinions within sustainability. And we’re glad that we did. Some results surprised us and other nuggets have inspired further action.

Buying Habits - 50% would consider buying 2nd hand boots.

Fairly surprising as we thought this number might be lower so it’s good to see that buying used / refurbished is an option. It would be interesting to know people’s motivations (economic, environmental, better performing vs latest models) - we can go deeper with this in the next edition.

Of the 50% against, the main concerns over buying second hand were ‘trust in the condition’ (53%), and ‘ease of buying a new pair’ (27%).

Maintenance - 84% of participants try to make their boots last as long as possible.

The majority of respondents are motivated to keep their boots in good condition, and follow a regular cleaning routine. Another positive finding that players are actively looking after their boots, and want to look good on the pitch.

Repair - 14% of participants had previously got their boots repaired.

Wander down your local high street and repair options for football boots are pretty limited. Same goes for online - search up ‘football boot repair’ and it’s hit and miss if you can find a local option. Boot repair isn’t really pushed widely by players, brands or content creators with the exception of people like TheShoeDR so it’s not really thought about or promoted.

Those that responded ‘Maybe’ or ‘No’ cited’ lack of obvious repair services’ (48%) and ‘ease of buying new’ (35%) as the main barriers to getting their boots repaired.

The one positive was that 43% of those who had answered ‘No’ to getting their boots repaired were receptive to trying a repair service.

Incentive To Repair - 54% needed proof it’s worth doing.

Players need to see that repair is worth the time, cost and hassle. Brand incentive doesn’t really feature with only 6% needing an incentive to go down the repair route. It’s clear that there’s a job to be done to convince ballers that repaired boots are going to hold up in play.

Recycling - only 10% threw away their unwanted boots.

This is great to see; respondents are making the effort to rehome or recycle their unwanted football boots. 46% of respondents donate to a club boot reuse scheme or a charity shop. 13% opt to resell on eBay or other platforms, and 12% giving away boots to family or friends.

So What’s Next?
First up, we’ll be compiling a list of boot repairers across the UK to share with the County FAs and anyone else who’s interested. We want to make it easier for players to find a pro to patch up boots so if you know any good repairers, drop us a line at customer.service@sokito.com and we'll make sure they’re included.

Secondly, we’re going to do another survey ahead of the new season. We want to scale our reach, get more players talking about reuse, repair and recycling. Get in touch if you’d like to partner with us.

The survey ran over a 3 month period (August to October 2024). 101 respondents took part with 47% identifying as a grassroots player. Thanks to Birmingham FA, Cornwall FA, Durham FA, Jersey FA, Liverpool FA, London FA, North Easy Hampshire FA, North Riding FA and Northants FA for their cooperation.