About Us
What is Blackest Cat?
Blackest Cat is not a person or animal, its a concept. The idea of being the best of the best. There are plenty of Black Cats around, but only one is the Blackest, only one cat is the best.
Back in 2004, some champion footballers living together in Homebush were arguing about who had the best footwork. For each story told, another would tell a better one. This continued until truths were being stretched and things got quite comical. Alas, one player jumped to his feet and said "Bro you are the Blackest Cat! It doesn't matter what I do or say, you always go one better. If my cat is Black then yours is the Blackest Cat". And as simple as that.... Blackest Cat was born...
History
Over the past twenty years, elite touch football players have been called upon to test and develop football boots due to their superior footwork and explosive change of directions. In 2005, amidst requests for a lightweight comfortable boot, Jason Stanton begun development on new designs that would be specific for Australian conditions.
Jason Stanton is a triple world champion in touch football and is regarded by many as the greatest player ever. His experience is across many football codes including playing in a League World Cup, winning a Rugby Sevens World Cup as a coach and winning a Sydney premiership in Aussie Rules football. When it comes to footwork, he is regarded as Australia's specialist.
Jason got together with the world's best players and created a research team to develop a lightweight boot with cushioning and superior traction. The first boots were worn in 2007 and Team Blackest Cat's extensive testing and technical efforts have now resulted in the BC-ELITE and BC-JUNIOR boots, regarded as among the most comfortable lightweight boots in the world.
Technical Info
Testing showed that traditional conical studs (round style) greatly out perform the traditional cleats (blade style) in a variety of areas. The main performance difference is in traction and support. For traction, Cleats work well only in certain directions (e.g. forwards or sideways running), however struggle in other directions (e.g. angled and backwards running). The support provided by cleats is particularly poor on harder grounds requiring greater effort and stability to maintain good body position. For the majority of surfaces and conditions, mid range length conical studs perform best. Circular cleats are now appearing in boot designs to combat this.
Cushioning and weight are very important in a boot, both contributing to the feel of the boot as well as injury prevention. For the insoles, a range of gel type and EVA materials were tested. Gel type materials did not perform as well as EVA and also proved to be heavier. For the uppers, a range of leather grades including synthetic were tested. The leather v synthetic leather tests were very even. Synthetic held shape better (particularly in wet) whereas leather moulded to the foot more. Elite players showed preferences for both.
Blackest Cats prides itself on ongoing testing and technological advancements and continues to work with world champion football players so we can stay as number 1 for traction, weight and comfort.