We expect many vendors to try and reduce costs this year and when I say that I expect inventory to be very tight this year. Gone are the days of ordering a lot more shoes than the stores like us order and hope to sell them. Look for many of these shoes prices to increase as they are less readily available.

Here are our top 7 hot wrestling shoes for 2010 – 2011 wrestling season:

1) Nike Inflict Wrestling Shoes – Red Black – this shoe was not made last year. It was in the past and we could have sold a bunch of them in 2009-2010 season. Here is your chance to get them now.

2) Nike Inflict Wrestling Shoes – Grey Black – this shoe was made last year, but there were not enough made last year to satisfy demand. Remember trying to find this shoe last year? If you did, you likely did not find it.

3) Nike Inflict Wrestling Shoes Blue Black – same as #2 on this list, it was made last year but not enough. This is listed as number three even though it could have easily been #1 or #2. It’s listed as #3 because it’s not the most neutral team color. It will be highly sought after though.

4) Asics Aggressor Wrestling Shoes Royal Blue and Grey – great team color combination (and neutral too). This will be the surprise of the year I have a feeling. Although since we designated it as our #4 hottest shoe can it still be labelled a surprise? This is an updated version of the Rulon wrestling shoe and will likely challenge for one of the hottest wrestling shoes of the season.

5) Asics Aggressor Wrestling Shoes Red and Black and Asics Aggressor Wrestling Shoes Royal Blue and Gold – was not sure where to put these two shoes as far as #5 or #6 so I put them as #5 (also it let’s us slip in an extra pair of wrestling shoes into our top 7 wrestling shoes picks of the season.  The Aggressors are an up date to the Rulon wrestling shoe and will feature a more comfortable toe area. Don’t know what to call the toe area on this shoe, but my cross training shoes have this feature and they are much more comfortable due to this new technology.

6) Combat Speed III Wrestling Shoes – can’t go wrong with this shoe. At around $60 retail for this shoe, it is going to be a favorite work out shoe at the minimum for the Elite wrestler not looking to beat up his $125 pair of wrestling shoes day in and day out in practice. However, I think many people are going to fall in love with this shoe again. Remember if you like this shoe or any shoe we sell, they generally only last for a few years and then are gone. Combat Speed II wrestling shoes typically sell in excess of $150 to $250 even in used condition. At $60 these shoes are going to be a steal. It looks like these shoes are going to be readily available at your local sporting goods store so sometimes that will effect a shoes desireability if anyone can get it.

7) Asics Wide Split Second 6 Wrestling Shoes – what a shoe that is over 3 years old is going to be on the hot 7 for 2010-2011 wrestling season. We’ll almost no one carries this shoe so it sells well for us. We are committed to offering you the wrestling shoes you want for the season. We will only bring in a few hundred of these pairs of shoes, but they will likely sell out within a few weeks of us having them delivered. If you happen to be lucky enough to get these shoes while we have them, consider yourself lucky. They won’t last and even waiting a day can cause you not to get them. And at $70 retail price, most parents won’t have a problem getting these shoes for kids with a EEE width.

Many of the top wrestling shoes photos are on our flickr site. Check out wrestling shoe photos here.

And we found out that the Combat Speed III Wrestling shoes will be available shortly. Start shopping for your wrestling shoes now at WrestlingGear.Com

Nike Inflict Wrestling Shoes SKU: 325256-001 Sizes: 6-11.5,12.5,13,14,15 Price: $79.98

Nike Inflict Wrestling Shoes SKU: 325256-013 Sizes: 6-11.5, 12.5-14 Price: $79.98

Nike Inflict Wrestling Shoes SKU: 325256-014 Sizes: 6-7, 8-11.5, 12.5-14 Price: $79.98

WrestlingGear.Com has been in business since 1998 and has grown to one of the largest wrestling shoe stores in the USA. They only can ship within the USA sorry to all our non USA residents out there. They do ship to U.S. Military APO’s.

Here are some other websites to check out:

WrestlingGear.Com’s Facebook Fan Page – over 3,900 fans can’t be wrong.

Twitter Fan Page – follow Jeff Pape, the owner of WrestlingGear.Com. He posts updates on what is going at the company and his business and personal life.

WrestlingGear.Net – think social network for wrestlers. Over 100 wrestlers and fans here.

WrestlingGear.Com’s Blog - articles and videos on improving your performance on the mat.

WrestlingGear.Com’s Youtube Channel – lots of technique videos and shows on wrestling gear.

On the Asics front, the Rulon’s will be going away and not known as Rulon’s next season. Will Rulon make the switch from Asics to adidas like Cejudo did?

On the adidas front, they have already released this photo below. Now the question is will this be an early release like they did with other shoes in the past? Not likely though as all of our vendors are delaying inventory investments as long as they can. Trust us, if they bring in only a few hundred pair, we will ask for them. The other question is, will they release a teal version of this shoe? Now if they could only bring back a version of the White adistar.

On the Nike front, just got the catalog. Guess what new color of the Takedown and the Inflicts are in the catalog in three colors. Wow! Let’s hope they come back this year. They will be on our wish list for next year.

Is that important to you? Is it important to others?

adidas launched a shoe that is made of synthetic leather and recycled material. The GT Response is also a wide shoe. So I think adidas was trying to cover all the areas with this vegan, recycled, wide wrestling shoe all in one shoe.

So far this shoe has not knocked it out of the park. Would it sell better if it was a crazy color combination? Ala the Combat Speeds?

What are your thoughts on this shoe? Here is a photo, the link and the technical information on the shoe.

Link to the site – GT Response Vegan Earth Friendly Wrestling Shoes

Earth Friendly Vegan Wrestling Shoes - GT Response - this is a wide wrestling shoe available from adidas wrestling

This elite wrestling shoe provides a sturdy, wider base for match-winning support and a glove-like fit. A product built in a sustainable way to make the world a Better Place.

* Built on a new, wide wrestling last
* Environmentally responsible high performance engineered leather, cutting down weight and wastage
* Encapsulated idsole construction for enhanced fit and support
* 100% recycle PET mesh lining
* Molded heel counter for ultimate support and hold

Remember to add a 1/2 size to your normal gym shoe size. Do not use your current wrestling shoe size to order adidas Shoes

Here are some blasts from the past. Let us know what you think of this shoe. Also, post ideas on how you’d like to see these photos. Do you like this format? Would you prefer a gallery?

Combat Speed II Wrestling Shoes
Notice the Yellow stripes. This is how you can tell them apart from an earlier version of the Combat Speeds. Man do I wish I had a few thousand pairs of these shoes.

Shoes that are basically gone include The Inflicts (except in a few sizes outside of 9 to 12), The Black and Red Rulons, and The Black and Yellow Rulons. Now the Inflicts they are gone for good (or at least we don’t think they are coming back). The Rulon wrestling shoes we will get some more in stock in December and should have most sizes in late December or early January. I suspect The Rulons will likely be updated to a version 2.0 or at the very least be changing colors significantly for the 2010 – 2011 season. So if you love these Rulon wrestling shoes – you better get an extra pair this season.

The battle of the ultra high end market – e.g. wrestling shoes that exceed say $125 is being won by the White adidas adistar. The sad thing is this shoe is gone and likely selling well because we are one of the only places in the country with it. If you take out of the mix this White adistar, the Dan Gable is beating the Black adistar. True there are 3 Dan Gables to only one Black adistar, but last year the White adistar smoked all challengers even with just one color.

Now if you add John Smiths shoe into the mix, it’s being out sold by the Gable too. This year the Gable shoe is much hotter of a shoe than it has been in the past. Is it because Iowa won two recent NCAA Championships? Is it because of better design? I suspect it’s a little bit of both. I think once more people take a look at the shoe, the Gable will sell even more. It’s a cool looking shoe up close.

Cael vs Cejudo (battle of the $80 shoes), right now Cael is winning this battle. Although, the Cael V3.0′s are still selling very well against even the V4.0′s. This is likely because the designs are pretty different between the V3.0′s and V4.0′s and the color options of these two shoes. When we talk to customers on the phone, some like the V3.0′s and some like the V4.0′s. We still have pretty good availability on the Cael V3.0′s at least for now. If all goes well, much of this inventory will be gone by the first of the year.

Here are the shoes that we talked about in this blog posting:

adiSTAR White Wrestling Shoes
SKU: 561256
Sizes: 6.5-13, 15
Price:$141.98

adiSTAR Black Wrestling Shoes
SKU: G00135
Sizes: 5.5-13, 14, 15
Price:$141.98

Mat Wizard III Wrestling Shoes
SKU: G03702
Sizes: 5-13, 14, 15
Price:$119.98

Mat Wizard III Wrestling Shoes
SKU: G03703
Sizes: 5-13, 14, 15
Price:$119.98

Mat Wizard III Wrestling Shoes
SKU: G02652
Sizes: 5-13, 14, 15
Price:$119.98

Cejudo Signature Wrestling Shoes SKU: G02496 Sizes: 5, 5.5, 6.5-13, 14, 15 Price:$77.98

Cejudo Signature Wrestling Shoes SKU: G03698 Sizes: 5-13, 14, 15 Price:$77.98

Cejudo Signature Wrestling Shoes SKU: G03699 Sizes: 5-13, 14, 15 Price:$77.98

Dan Gable Ultimate 2 Wrestling Shoes SKU: J900Y-4790 Sizes: 6-13, 14, 15 Price:$124.98

Dan Gable Ultimate 2 Wrestling Shoes SKU: J900Y-9093 Sizes: 6,7-8.5,10,11.5-13, 14, 15 Price:$124.98

Dan Gable Ultimate 2 Wrestling Shoes SKU: J900Y-9094 Sizes: 6-10,11-13, 14, 15 Price:$124.98

Rulon Wrestling Shoes
SKU: JY500-9094
Sizes: 7,10.5-11,12-12.5,14,15
Price:$99.98

Rulon Wrestling Shoes
SKU: JY500-9024
Sizes: 6-6.5,8.5,9, 10-11.5,14,15
Price:$99.98

Nike Inflict Wrestling Shoes
SKU: 325256-013
Sizes: 6-7,12-12.5
Price: $69.98

Nike Inflict Wrestling Shoes
SKU: 325256-001
Sizes: 6-7.5,12-14, 15
Price: $69.98

Generally we find a person can get away with a smaller normal gym shoe if they are in wide. For example, I have a wide foot and I can usually go down about a half size or even a full size if it’s a dress shoe.

Our sizing recommendations on our site generally call for either normal gym shoe size, add a 1/2 size to normal gym shoe size or add a full size to your normal gym shoe size.

If your child is in a wide gym shoe, he or she is likely down a half size. So just add an extra 1/2 size to what our sizing recommendations would say.

So let’s use a size 4.0 in a wide shoe. The shoes you are looking at say add a half size. So just add another 1/2 size to our sizing recommendation.

For example, if we say add a half size add another 1/2 size so you’d be at a full size. So you should be looking at size 5.0 wrestling shoes.

If we say add a full size (generally this is Nike only), take the full size and add another 1/2 size so you would be at a size and 1/2 added to your son’s normal gym shoe size. So if your son is a size 4.0 and you are looking at a Nike shoe, look at a size 5.5.

Keep in mind too, that WrestlingGear.Com has a sizing exchange insurance program. We will pay for the shipping back and forth – if you listen to our sizing recommendations. We stress, your child must have purchased shoes recently. We get children that come in here all the time to our store that the parents have no idea what their gym shoe size is. Kids are wearing size 9.0 or 9.5 shoes that really should be size 10.5 or 11.0. They walk out of our store with a size 11.5 shoe and the parents are amazed.

If your kids gym shoes don’t fit properly, size them up first make sure their feet are not jammed into their shoes. Then come to our site and read the sizing recommendations.

Here are a few links to wider cut wrestling shoes we recommend.

	Adidas Response GT Wrestling Shoes This elite wrestling shoe provides a sturdy, wider base for match-winning support and a glove-like fit. Price: $108.98
	Asics Wide Split Second VI Wrestling Shoes This shoe is a Wide version of the ever popular Split Second VI wrestling shoe. Price: $64.98
	Adidas VaporSpeed Black Orange Wrestling Shoes Lace guard systems on this wrestling shoe accomate wider feet. Price: $71.98
	Adidas VaporSpeed Blue White Wrestling Shoes Lace guard systems on this wrestling shoe accomodate wider feet. Price: $71.98
	Adidas VaporSpeed Red White Wrestling Shoes Lace guard systems on this wrestling shoe accomodate wider feet. Price: $71.98

If adidas is consistent with their offerings, this shoe should be offered in both the 2009-2010 season and the 2010-2011 wrestling season.

Our first color combination we will shoe on this blog is the Black and Yellow Gold shoe. If you are interested in buying them, check out WrestlingGear.Com

Here is the technical information along with our sizing recommendation for these shoes:

The Response Wrestling legacy continues featuring ClimaCool ventilation providing 360 degree of cooling and the unbeatable reputation of consistency and winning.

* ClimaCool provides 360 degree cooling for the entire foot
* Zippered lace cover for additional instep support and protection
* ‘Inside/Out’ heel liner construction reduces pressure along the achilles tendon area
* Molded heel counter for ultimate support and hold

Remember to add a 1/2 size to your normal gym shoe size. Do not use your current wrestling shoe size to order adidas Shoes.

adidas Response II 2 Wrestling Shoes Black and Gold Side View

adidas Response II 2 Wrestling Shoes Black and Gold Rotated Side View

adidas Response II 2 Wrestling Shoes Black and Gold Back View

adidas Response II 2 Wrestling Shoes Black and Gold Close Up View

adidas Response II 2 Wrestling Shoes Black and Gold Rotated Outside View

adidas Response II 2 Wrestling Shoes Black and Gold Bottom View

Generally you have to add a 1/2 size to their normal gym shoe size (at least at WrestlingGear.Com – every shoe has a sizing recommendation).

So you would be looking for a 9.0 or a 9.5. They start making them at size 10 in Asics and adidas. Matman starts at an 11 and Nike at a size 12.0. Keep in mind I am talking toddler or about a 3 year old’s wrestling shoe.

You may need to wind up going up a full size. In the example of the dad looking for a size 9.0, he has to go up to a size 10 (although ideally he’d want a 9.5).

Unfortunately the market for these small shoes is not that large so most go up by 1 full size. Nike does go up by 1/2 sizes but we don’t carry them in a 12.5 and 13.5.

Once you hit a 1.5 they do make them by 1/2 sizes so you can follow the normal sizing recommendations.

Check out Youth Wrestling Shoes at WrestlingGear.Com.