Aura Brand Stories: Why IDA Sports Is Changing the Game for Female Athletes
Have You Ever Wondered Why Girls Still Wear Cleats Designed for Men?
Think about it for a second.
If you walked into a running store, you would expect to find shoes designed specifically for women's feet. The same goes for hiking boots, training shoes, and even everyday sneakers.
So why have generations of female soccer players been expected to wear cleats originally designed around the anatomy of men's feet?
For years, female athletes have simply accepted sore arches, blisters, heel slippage, black toenails, and aching feet as "part of the game."
But what if they never had to?
The Story Behind IDA Sports
IDA Sports began with a simple question.
In 2017, co-founder Laura Youngson was leading a team of women to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro to play a Guinness World Record soccer match promoting gender equality in sport. During the journey, one problem kept coming up: every woman on the team was wearing soccer cleats designed for men or boys, and nearly everyone was dealing with pain.
That experience sparked years of research.
Laura partnered with former professional cricketer Ben Sandhu and began working with podiatrists, biomechanical researchers, coaches, physiotherapists, and hundreds of female athletes to answer one question:
What would a soccer cleat look like if it were designed specifically for women from the ground up?
The answer became IDA Sports.
Not a smaller men's cleat.
Not a pink version of an existing design.
A cleat engineered around the female athlete.
The Science Matters
Women's feet aren't simply scaled-down versions of men's feet.
On average, women have:
Narrower heels
Different arch characteristics
A wider forefoot relative to the heel
Different lower-body biomechanics
Traditional "unisex" cleats are often built on a cast originally designed for male feet. That can create unnecessary movement inside the shoe, pressure points, blisters, instability, and discomfort. Research has also raised important questions about how footwear designed around male anatomy may contribute to injury risk in female athletes.
IDA addressed those differences by designing cleats with features such as:
A narrower heel cup for a more secure fit
A wider toe box that better matches the shape of many women's feet
Enhanced arch support
Performance focused engineering based on female biomechanics rather than simply reducing the size of a men's model
Because the right fit isn't just about comfort.
It's about helping athletes move with confidence.
Why This Matters
When your feet hurt, it's hard to focus on the game.
Instead of thinking about your next touch, your next pass, or your next sprint, you're thinking about the blister forming on your heel or the pressure on your toes.
Confidence starts long before kickoff.
It starts with knowing your equipment was designed for you.
Better comfort leads to better confidence.
Better confidence allows athletes to play freely.
And every girl deserves equipment that supports her instead of asking her to simply "deal with it."
Why Aura Chose IDA Sports
I've watched girls assume sore feet and uncomfortable cleats were just part of playing sports.
When I learned there was finally a company designing cleats specifically for women, not just shrinking men's models, I knew this was exactly the kind of brand I wanted AuraAthletic Fit to represent.
Aura has never been about filling shelves with products.
It's about finding brands that truly support female athletes and women who love sports.
Brands that listen.
Brands that innovate.
Brands that believe girls deserve equipment built for them, not adapted as an afterthought.
That's why IDA Sports belongs at Aura.
Because every female athlete deserves to step onto the field feeling confident, comfortable, supported, and ready to play her best.
The Aura Difference
At AuraAthletic Fit, every product is chosen with one question in mind:
Will this genuinely help female athletes perform with more confidence?
IDA Sports answered that question with a resounding yes.
And that's exactly why we're proud to carry them.