In addition to hover boards and soda bottles with built-in straws, the ’80s trilogy Back to the Future conjured up a future with self-lacing Nike Air Mags sneakers.
To commemorate the film, Nike and Power Laces are combining their technologies to make self-lacing sneakers a reality in 2015, the same year they appear in the flick. Nike designer Tinker Hatfield made the announcement at the Agenda Emerge conference on Wednesday.
According to a 29-page U.S. Patent pulled up by NiceKicks.com, the 2015 iteration will be equipped with a power lacing system in the midsole of the shoe. The sneaker will likely be called Nike Mag, since the lacing system is secured in the area the Air unit would typically be placed. Nike has not set a release date for the sneakers.
In 2011, Nike bowed a collection of Nike Air Mag sneakers——replicas of the one Hatfield designed for the film——kitted out with electroluminescent outsoles and a rechargeable battery, but no power laces. All of the proceeds were donated to the Michael J. Fox Foundation to fund research for a cure against Parkinson’s disease.