Table tennis (or volleyball) shoes

[Vegan80]

Hi all. I'm looking for table tennis shoes. Any table tennis player here?

Volleyball shoes would be useful for me too.

[JP]

interesting, we get tons of people asking about products for their sport but this might be the first time for these

firstly, awesome that you do table tennis, its a great sport, and MANY BITTER BATTLES have been fought over table tennis at vegan fitness weeks (the swedes think they are the best in the sport)

out of interest, i guess the main brands in the game have leather in them then?

[Vegan80]

Hi JP.

China and Sweden have been the best countries in table tennis for the last decades.

Yes, main brands in table tennis have leather sadly. I'm trying to contact with a few of them.

Table tennis shoes and volleyball shoes are very similar, so I could use both.

[jpowell]

Hi Vegan80, great to see another tt player here! I am unfortunately not 100% sure, as I only committed to going vegan since the beginning of this year and I am still using my Mizuno shoes from before that: http://www.tabletennisworld.com.au/mizuno-wave-flick-shoe-p-741.html. They are the most popular shoe used by players in Australia, especially Asian players.

I think I have seen comments on this forum and elsewhere to the effect that the Mizuno brand
range of shoes are all vegan, or at least as vegan as any sports shoes. Apparently, they claim their shoes are 100% "vegan friendly" and assure that they don't use leather. I don't know in regards to glue, but it would seem that way.

If so, this is a very happy coincidence. Quality of the Mizuno indoor sport shoes as far as a traditional table tennis shoe characteristics is absolutely top notch. They are light, great grip, great flex, look good and seem to balance/land well on the floor (the last is highly subjective and players may have differing experiences, but in my view, the sole shape is pretty well right). The design is similar to the premier shoes of butterfly and nittaku, but I have no idea whether those are vegan and, to me, Mizuno is actually a higher quality product for shoes anyway. If you believe in all the slightly larger ankle support stuff (e.g. recent Stiga shoe models that almost look more like running shoes to me), then I don't know which, if any, are vegan, but they are very different to the Mizunos and definitely not suited to me. What do you weigh? and what style do you play (in terms of footwork)?

In any case, please let me know how you go with any info you find out, or experience with any vegan tt shoes you try!

[jpowell]

Also, I have heard (from I think a reliable source), that Dunlop volleys are vegan-ish, as in the little thing on the back is synthetic, not leather, but they refuse to make any claims about the glues used and there is speculation both ways. Also, Pacific Brands doesn't have a great reputation in regards to labor conditions.

Dunlop volleys are really not the same as proper table tennis shoes, but if you find yourself desperate for options and they turn out to be among the more moral, then they can work for tt.

[Vegan80]

Thank you, jpowell.

I weigh a lot (about 95 kg.), although I hope to lose weight playing.

I'm a kind of blocker. I use short pips on my backhand.

[jpowell]

MANY BITTER BATTLES have been fought over table tennis at vegan fitness weeks (the swedes think they are the best in the sport)

I have not been involved (and am not close enough to likely ever attend VF weeks) but can I join fray with a couple of observations....

China is absolutely dominant. They have over 20 million trained players (out of probably 25-30million in the sport, globally), and their top 1000 players put in probably at least twice the training man hours that the top 1000 from the rest of the world do. All this shows in technical knowledge, match fitness, money, medal statistics, rankings and injuries.

Sweden is a powerhouse of top level European / non-Asian table tennis success, albeit increasingly a historical one compared to what's happening in Germany now, and to an extent, some of the Slavic countries.

Japan's pretty well up there (money, resources, culture and players) although, interestingly, their current star Jun Mizutani is very strongly influenced by German training.

France is relatively strong in Europe and arguably the most creative these days.

Compared to ANY of the above, Korea punch way above their weight in terms of passion for the sport, results per capita and peak levels of match fitness. Currently they have 4 more players than Sweden does in the men's top 20: http://www.ittfranking.com/gen/world/worldM_en.htm

If I have to pick a country to support in table tennis, it will be Australia, Korea then maybe Germany, Austria or Japan ... if I have to pick players to *watch*, it's a very difficult contest between Korea and China (passion, fitness and variety of styles vs technical perfection)... but i I didn't play the game or played a different style, the French and some of the other Europeans would be just as exciting to watch and may edge out Sweden for the creativity factor these days.

I'd love to see another Swedish great in table tennis, they are certainly extremely good, and I can't admire Waldner and Persson enough... but Sweden can't trade on the reputation of a few legends forever.

[jpowell]

Thank you, jpowell.
I weigh a lot (about 95 kg.), although I hope to lose weight playing.
I'm a kind of blocker. I use short pips on my backhand.

Sounds like you could go either way as to style of shoes. As I understand it, the argument for the greater ankle support is that if you have a relatively heavy weight for table tennis (say 80-100kg+) and turn a lot for your backhand, they may help keep you safe more than they hinder your movement. If you are mainly blocking or hitting with the pimples this may be only partly true. Australia's #1 player, William Henzell (WR ~100), uses the chunky shoes (he has an unusually backhand-strong game), but Asian players from club level to world class, do not, and many Western players don't. For me (I am not at that level anyway), I play quite an Asian style, I pivot a lot to play a high percentage of forehands, so light shoes are a must.

If you already use or want light weight shoes, I strongly encourage you to look into the Mizuno.

[Vegan80]

Great answer, jpowell. Thank you!


Tibhar replied. This is the Tibhar answer:

"Materials used for our shoes are no animal products."

[Vegan80]

Joola replied:

"only non-animal products are in our shoes"

[jpowell]

Great to know the Tibhar and Joola shoes are vegan. I will keep that in mind.

[jpowell]

Just curious, were those your preferred brands / main inquiries or did Stiga, Butterfly, Donic, etc. say otherwise or provide no answer at all?

[Vegan80]

I wrote to the main brands, but only Tibhar and Joola answered.

[Vegan80]

I finally bought Radial Win (Butterfly).

https://www.google.com/search?hl=es&saf ... +butterfly