For those who hate to get tied in knots Nike has just unveiled self-lacing trainers for the consumer market, making another product featured in the Back to the Future films a reality.
The Nike HyperAdapt 1.0 features a sensor inside the heel of the shoe and two buttons on the side to adjust the fit tighter or looser. After a couple of of wears, the shoe will automatically adjust to the users preferred setting, reports Wired.
The shoes were presented by CEO Mark Parker at a New York media event along with the companys other innovations, part of Nikes drive to reap $50bn (£35bn) in revenue by 2020.
Innovation at Nike is not about dreaming of tomorrow. Its about accelerating toward it, says designer Tinker Hatfield on the shoes webpage.
The shoe is powered by an underfoot-lacing mechanism — think tiny motor — and it proposes a groundbreaking solution to individual idiosyncrasies in lacing, says Nike. The trainers are battery operated and will need a full three-hour recharge every two weeks or so.
The sneakers are scheduled to hit the market before the holiday season. But theyll only be available to members of its loyalty Nike+ app. No word yet on pricing.
The Oregon-based Nike company has been talking about releasing the trainers inspired by Back to The Future II for years.
The company presented an early prototype of the shoe — a near-perfect replica of the high-top self-lacing Nike Air Mags from Back to the Future II — to the movies star Michael J Fox on Back to the Future Day — 21 October 2015. Thats date his character, Marty McFly, travelled to when he zoomed out of the present in the 1989 instalment of the three-movie series.
Thats cool, Fox said in a video as he tries on the whirring trainers. Thats insane. Thats really great.
