Just in time for Back to the Future day over in America (which makes it a day late for Australia), Nike has our attention with official news that the power lace shoes from Back to the Future 2 are real, and they’re actually coming.
Earlier in the week, we wrote about the things that the Robert Zemeckis flick “Back to the Future 2” got right and wrong in its science-fiction expectations for the year 2015. Not just the year 2015, but also the day, as well, with October 21, 2015 represented in the movie, and this week coming to life.
One of these concepts were shoes that automatically laced up for you, and while we wrote that some inventors had come up with similar concepts, we also wrote that Nike was working on a version of its movie-based “Mag” shoes that would also be real.
Here’s the thing: according to Nike, they are real.
Announced this week, the Nike Mag shoes will indeed be a real item, relying on a concept that Nike describes as “an individually responsive system that senses the wearer’s motion to provide adaptive on-demand comfort and support”.
“We started creating something for fiction and we turned it into fact, inventing a new technology that will benefit all athletes,” said Mark Parker, President and Chief Executive Officer at Nike.
“By imagining the future, we create it. Product that comes alive, with on-demand comfort and support when you need, product that senses you and adapts to you is right around the corner.”
In a way, this is like the ultimate geek dream, with the first version of power lace shoes not just coming to life, but looking like the shoes from the film. It’s like a piece of movie history that does more than simple prop work and actually works.
The bad news is that the 2015 Nike Mag shoes — these ones based off the sort Michael J. Fox wore in the “Back to the Future 2” film — will be a limited edition release, and only by auction. The good news, however, is that the proceeds from the auction will go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
If you really want these, prepare your wallets, because these aren’t likely to be cheap. Everyone else, however, can look forward to seeing this innovation in more shoes in the future, likely appearing in more than just a movie-based piece of footwear over the next year or two.
For now, check out Michael J. Fox receiving a real pair from Nike, one of the first pairs in the world.
Michael J. Fox models the first self-lacing @Nike Mag pic.twitter.com/bgPWM5CKBE
— michaeljfox.org (@MichaelJFoxOrg) October 21, 2015
