Nike Releases Self-Lacing Shoes You Can Control From Your Phone

Sportswear giant Nike has teased its first self-lacing basketball trainers, which the company has suggested will be controllable from a smartphone. 

The US firm posted a video to Twitter showing a number of high-profile basketball players trying on the shoes and appearing to interact with them via a phone.

The video is accompanied by the message: ‘The game will never be the same.’

The firm previously launched a limited edition pair of self-lacing shoes inspired by those worn by Michael J Fox’s character Marty McFly in the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II. 

The new Nike Adapt BB are specifically designed for basketball and contain ‘power laces’.

These laces automatically tighten or loosen with a press of the button either on the shoes themselves or via a smartphone.

While Nike has today released a picture of the shoes, the trainers themselves are not shown in the promotional video, only the wearers’ reactions to them.

The range will initially go on sale only in the US for $350 dollars (£272), but become available globally from February 17.

Nike has said that users can programme different settings that dictate on how the laces are tied, such one setting for playing a basketball game and one for just lounging in.

The shoes will require charging, and each pair will come with a recharging mat.

Nike confirmed at the end of 2018 it was planning on releasing more self-lacing trainers.

The latest shoes would be the first from the company that pair with a smartphone to control the laces, though the mechanics of the connection remains unknown.

Nike has previously experimented with the technology, having launched a range of range of automatically lacing shoes in its HyperAdapt range in 2016.

Nike revealed just a few months into 2016 that it would finally be bringing Marty McFly’s iconic sneakers to life, just a year after Back To The Future predicted.

The company unveiled the Nike HyperAdapt 1.0, which automatically tighten when the wearer’s heel hits a sensor.

MICHAEL J. FOX TRIES ON MARTY MCFLY STYLE SELF-LACING SHOES