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A little less than a year ago, on Oct. 21, 2015, we celebrated Back to the Future Day, the day that Marty McFly travels to in the second installment of the classic sci-fi movie trilogy. Now “Back to the Future” is in the spotlight again as Nike releases a limited amount of “power lace” shoes.
Work on the self-lacing sneakers, called Nike Mag because magnets were originally going to be used, began in 1989 when current CEO Mark Parker was just a sneaker designer. In the preliminary stages, the shoes actually had to be plugged into the wall, as the batteries of the time were too bulky to fit into the shoes. Finally in 2012, batteries were small enough to allow for wireless shoe tying.
The sneakers, which are modeled exactly after the ones that appear in the film, adjust automatically when you step into them and can be recharged using a jack. You can also make them tighter or looser with just the push of a button.
There are only 89 (a reference to the movie’s release date) pairs available and they will be sold in an online raffle to a randomly selected few. The raffle runs from Oct. 4 to Oct. 11 and winners will be notified on Oct. 17. Each ticket costs just $10 and participants can buy as many as they wish, although they are only available in men’s sizes 7, 9, 11 and 13. The money also goes to a good cause, as all proceeds will be donated to the Michael J. Fox Foundations for Parkinson’s research. You can enter through the Nike+ app or on their website.
It’s your turn to shape the future.
Join our fight against Parkinson’s disease and enter The Draw for the #NikeMag: https://t.co/AxDNqVZDJR pic.twitter.com/hNXPmWB8UR
— Nike (@Nike) October 4, 2016
Nike does not plan on mass producing the Nike Mag. However, in November, Nike will release the HyperAdapt, which uses similar self-lacing technology but is more practical and geared toward athletes.
But the Nike Mag is not the only product inspired by the beloved films. There are many other modern day technologies that fans claim the 1989 film predicted.
In the film, Marty’s son uses a pair of glasses to talk on the phone. We now actually have smart glasses, like Google Glass and Spectacles.
The movie also shows future Marty talking to his boss on a video conference. At the time, this was unheard of, but today Skype, FaceTime and other similar applications allow us to talk with and see far away loved ones.
Another modern day technology foreseen in the film is the use of fingerprints. In a scene, fingerprints are used to open the doors to a house. Today fingerprint security systems do exist, and fingerprints are used in other technology, like unlocking an iPhone.
But while we seem to be living in the future, we’re still waiting on the flying Dolorean.