Well, it came a year too late, but Nike finally has real self-lacing shoes. Called Nike HyperAdapt 1.0, it’s also way more normal-looking than Marty McFly’s fictional kicks, making for a real pair of sneakers that regular people might actually wear out on the street.
Instead of actually tying the shoe laces as if with an invisible hand like in the movie, the sneakers come with non-removable laces that can loosen and tighten all on their own. A sensor on the heel alerts the system once you’ve slipped into the shoe, triggering the laces to tighten automatically. It’s smart, too, determining whether you’re heavy on the heel or heavy on the forefoot, then cinching the shoe’s throat to deliver the best fit based on that.
Tiny pulleys installed on the upper take care of winding the laces around a spool, with plus and minus buttons on either side of the shoe allowing you to tighten or loosen the fit as you require. Holding down the minus button loosens the laces in full, allowing you to slip out of the footwear with ease. An onboard battery (of course, it has batteries) allows you to operate the laces for two weeks on a single charge, at which point you’ll have to plug it like you do with your cellphone to get it ready for another go. Oh yeah, the battery is integrated into a translucent midsole that lights up in blue when turned on, giving it a definite sci-fi twist.
No pricing has been announced, but the Nike HyperAdapt 1.0 will go on sale at the end of the year.