The year is 2014. We are officially one year away from the pseudo-dystopian future as seen in Back to the Future Part 2. Let’s see. What kind of futuristic gadgets do we have? Hoverboards? Heck no. Self-drying clothes? Not quite, but look for this tech to become a reality in several years. Freeze-dried pizzas that appear out of thin air? No, nothing on that front either. What about self-lacing shoes? That’s gotta be something that is in the realm of possibility by next year? Yes, it is. Nike has already released a fake pair of the shoes seen in that flick, but sans the self-lacing properties. Now the company says they have that in the bag and it’ll be available next year.
What the what? It’s true! Nike designer Tinker Hatfield recently made an appearance at Jordan Brand’s Flight Lab space in New Orleans and responded to the one future shoe-related question most have been asking since 1989. “Are we gonna see power laces in 2015? To that I say yes!†So, to that he says yes, so it has to be true. As far as details go, the company is remaining mum, except it is assumed the company has finally solved the power problem inherent in this kind of technology.
In the meantime, all we can do is wait and stare longingly at our boring old sneakers that require actual human hands in order to lace. Maybe our evil bosses will send us a termination fax or two via our television sets. There’s always that.
