How to add grip to Basketball shoes?

Many online articles suggest wiping your shoes with a damp towel while playing. Some might even advise a gel mat or grip lotion for your shoes. We say, don’t believe them! 

These common tips have several problems, and we will explain why Slipp-Nott is truly the best choice for instant and consistent superior shoe grip.

Slipp-Nott is the product of choice of more pro and college basketball players. The sticky mats instantly remove dirt from the soles of athletic footwear.

Traction solutions for shoes – basketball, volleyball, badminton, racquetball and, fencing

When you play any sport indoors, you know just how important it is to be able to make quick stops and turns while keeping your shoes’ grip. But when shoes collect dust and wax from smooth gym floors, that buildup causes the soles to become less grippy. Consequently, players cannot move as precisely, increasing their risk of injury due to slipping.

There are countless solutions to the question ‘How can you get a better grip with basketball shoes’ that are commonly searched on the internet. Solutions may range from simple hacks to specialized sports footwear.

Today we examine a number of common recommendations:

1.  Make sure the soles of your shoes are clean to improve grip

The constant wiping: You’ve likely seen basketball players wipe their bottoms with a damp towel … or perhaps lick their hands to wipe their shoes.

While we agree that wiping shoes multiple times during a game is the best solution for improving traction, it is also extremely tedious.

• The use of a towel can be hit or miss:
  • If you use too much water, your rubber soles become a wet slip hazard.
  • Your soles won’t be cleaned well if the towel isn’t wet enough.
  • There may be some wetter areas of the sole, while other areas may be just slick because there has been so much water.
• You will always have inconsistency in results when you wet your towels since you can give no guarantee that the material will have uniform coverage with water.
• Despite the fact that you can never guarantee uniform coverage, it’s impossible to know exactly how much water to use at all times!
• The undignified act of licking your hands on your shoes’ bottoms is still practiced by many players. More importantly, though, this technique would only work if your palms are perfectly flat and large. That’s because your palms’ contours would prevent them from making complete contact with the entire sole.

2. Keeping the surface dust-free means regular sweeping

There is no doubt that a clean court makes a big difference, but dry mopping cannot ensure a clean court. The best way to keep the floor clean is through wet mopping, but this service is both expensive and time-consuming. Although dry mopping can be useful in removing dust and dirt from floors, it cannot truly remove the dirt. Dry mopping can really only be used for drying spills or to absorb perspiration after players fall.

3. Your soles will be more secure if you apply a grip gel or lotion.

Among all the methods available to improve basketball shoe grip, this is the worst choice! To explain why let’s look at how these products work:

1. The gel/lotion must be applied to one shoe and then dried. In the meantime, you must let the gel dry on the other shoe before you can even put your foot on the floor.
2. You feel better but only for a few minutes because the gel on your shoe ends up cleaning up the dust on the floor – which means you’re back to sliding. As a result, the product that was designed to improve traction actually has the opposite effect!
3. Reapplying gel is necessary to regain traction but minutes later, it has to be reapplied! you have to reapply the gel over and over – and you have to wait for it to dry every time. Are you really going to stop and go through these hassles when you’re in the midst of an intense tournament game?
4. Since the product is magnetic for dirt, each time you reapply it a layer of dirt will build upon your shoes. As a result, you end up with hard-packed gunk on your shoes and slippery soles.

Do your shoes and yourself a favor. Don’t use any grip gels or lotions in any way.

4. Invest in a Slip-Nott shoe sole mat – instantly cleans shoe soles.

Wear Slipp-Nott. It is the chosen shoe of NBA teams and NCAA teams around the world. Slipp-Nott offers the best traction for basketball, running, soccer, and all other sports footwear designed for hard surfaces.

A sticky traction mat instantly and effectively cleans rubbery soles in less than 3 seconds. The result: Dirt-free soles with superior grip.

Slipp-Nott Traction Sets are sometimes called traction boards or sticky mats, and consist of disposable adhesive sheets, attached to a sturdy base. A.B.S. Modified for durability, our bases are made with high-impact modified acrylic that we bond a ribbed backing to. This prevents the floor from sliding down the base.

The top sheet of the mat should be used until all the adhesive is covered in dust and dirt. Then it should be removed to expose a new, clean sheet.

Keep using the sticky sheet until it’s dirt-covered. Pull off the top layer so a fresh, clean sheet is revealed on your traction mat.