In a big year for soccer, performance footwear brand Caddix Cleats is banking on a design formula it believes can reduce common on-field injuries.
The cleats use technology designed by co-founder and CEO Jack Rasmussen featuring patented SmartStuds that rotate to release a player’s foot from the turf. The company asserts that this technology reduces the twisting force that commonly causes ACL and ankle injuries. The shoes have been worn by NFL players, including seven-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady.
“I’ve worn a lot of different equipment over the years and most of it is designed the same way. Caddix is doing something different. I’m getting back on the field with two things in mind: high performance and safety. That’s why I chose Caddix,” Brady said during a practice session leading up to to inaugural Fanatics Flag Tournament, held on March 21 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Other notable names include Kayla Sharples, a First Team All-Pro soccer player for the Kansas City Current, who also is an investor.
Rasmussen is a former collegiate All-American football player. He said he and his dad saw a football player fall down to the ground without anyone around him and then ended up missing the next nine months of the season. That incident got him thinking about biomechanics and physics in the context of cleats.
“There’s a very big gap between what we need as players and what cleats can provide us,” he said. That got him thinking about how to mitigate the force, or torque, before it goes up to the knee and ankle. “Cleats have always been less than optimal because they’re designed to grab the ground and increase traction, which directly correlates to the injury.”
Rasmussen couldn’t say for sure if playing on grass could alleviate some of the injuries, but he did note that most fields have gravitated toward using turf because its more cost effective to maintain, and the Caddix shoe has cleats that would perform on both surfaces. The development process included working with medical professionals and experts
The shoes also have inside padding to absorb force when jumping, landing, putting and sprinting. The cleats have components that allow them to swing freely. The Caddix CEO described the cleat as a “washer around a stud post” that allows it to move in any direction, with the degree of flexibility bracketed so its both hard and rigid.
The brand has seed investors, and is in the process of raising a Series A round of funding with a target of $12 million to $15 million possibly before this summer.
The brand has added more staffing to enable it to invest in soccer, which has grown in popularity in colleges and high schools, particularly in women’s lacrosse. And Caddix is also the official footwear provider of the U.S.A. lacrosse team for the 2028 Olympics.
The women’s shoe is designed differently from its men’s counterpart, specifically with the anatomy of the player’s hips in mind. Women’s hips are wider as it relates to the angle of their knees, and the ratio is often times referred to as the Q factor. Rasmussen describes that angle as dramatic, which is why the number of knee injuries has become what the Caddix CEO describes as an “epidemic running rampant through women’s soccer.”
Sharples said she got interested in Caddix because it is “creating a standard where athletes can excel without sacrificing their safety.” She said she wears the brand’s Blueprint cleats at every training match. “I could feel the difference in fit and support from the first time I tried them on. I also never needed a break-in period for them, which was very new for me,” she said, adding that her cleats gives her the “confidence to make high-intensity sprints and spur-of-the-moment turns without thinking twice.”
Sharples also said that the fit of the women’s models helps her maintain better balance and relieves pressure points. “It’s subtle, but when your cleats feel just right, you’re able to trust your gut to react faster,” she said.
In addition to Sharples, National Football League‘s Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco is also a strategic investor in Caddix.
“I’ve been on the field long enough to understand how much your footing impacts everything. I think Caddix has taken an intuitive approach to helping athletes maintain that balance,” Flacco said. “You still get the traction you need without feeling stuck to the turf. It’s something I’ve come to appreciate, and a big reason why I wanted to be part of what they’ve created.”
