Nike delivers 'Back to the Future' power laces to the masses - CNET

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Nike just announced a product that should cause "Back to the Future" fans to freak the heck out. The company revealed HyperAdapt 1.0, a self-lacing system triggered when you place your foot inside the shoe. When your heel hits a sensor, it automatically tightens. Two buttons on the side adjust the fit, making it tighter or looser.

Nike introduced the technology by saying it has manifested the "unimaginable." Except it has been imagined. We saw a preview back in 1989 when Marty McFly donned a pair of Air Mags with power laces. And we've wanted them to be real ever since.

Nike designer Tinker Hatfield sees HyperAdapt as the perfect solution to adjusting the fit of shoes during athletic competitions where the laces can loosen or shoes may feel too tight as feet swell. "It challenges traditional understanding of fit, proposing an ultimate solution to individual idiosyncrasies in lacing and tension preference," Nike says.

Actor Michael J. Fox, who played McFly, got a first chance to try out some real self-lacing shoes when Nike sent him a pair last year. It was in the midst of fan festivities around Back to the Future Day on October 21, 2015. That was the day McFly arrived in the future during the 1989 film "Back to the Future: Part II."