The future and the past come to the present on Monday, November 28, when Nike releases their much anticipated self-lacing shoes. The Nike HyperAdapt 1.0 sneakers are based on Marty McFly’s shoes from the movie Back To The Future.
Nike PR Director Heidi Burgett made the announcement.
https://twitter.com/heidiburgett/status/778269663889199104
Nike doesn’t call their technology self-lacing, but rather “adaptive lacing.”
“Innovation at Nike is not about dreaming of tomorrow. It’s about accelerating toward it,” says Nike designer Tinker Hatfield. “We’re able to anticipate the needs of athletes because we know them better than anybody. Sometimes, we deliver a reality before others have even begun to imagine it.”
Welcome the Nike HyperAdapt 1.0, the first performance vehicle for Nike’s latest platform breakthrough, adaptive lacing. The shoe translates deep research in digital, electrical and mechanical engineering into a product designed for movement. It challenges traditional understanding of fit, proposing an ultimate solution to individual idiosyncrasies in lacing and tension preference.
Functional simplicity reduces a typical athlete concern, distraction. “When you step in, your heel will hit a sensor and the system will automatically tighten,” explains Tiffany Beers, Senior Innovator, NIKE, Inc., and the project’s technical lead. “Then there are two buttons on the side to tighten and loosen. You can adjust it until it’s perfect.”
The shoe lights up when you put your foot into it as a pressure sensor tightens the shoe until it’s hugging your foot. If it’s too tight or too constricting you can adjust it with two buttons on the sneaker.
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The L.E.D. lights on the side of the shoe also tell you how much battery life is left. You’ll need three hours to recharge the shoe every two weeks.
This is heavy.