Source : Fast Company
Your footwear is about to get a whole lot more interactive. Today, Nike announced the shoe of the future, the Nike Adapt Huarache shoe, which features the company’s “FitAdapt” technology, to let you adjust the fit of the shoe through Siri or your Apple Watch. Yep, there’s no need to be able to touch your toes anymore, a huge win for those of us who can’t or just don’t want to, thank you very much.
The very Jetsonian feature is an extension of the footwear we were promised first in Back to the Future Part II and then again in 2016, when Nike made self-lacing shoes a reality with the HyperAdapt 1.0. Now, the shoes, which are meant to accommodate a range of foot types and shoe preferences, are getting even more high-tech. In addition to the LED lights featured in earlier versions, the Adapt Huarache links the FitAdapt lacing system on your high-tech Nikes to Siri Shortcuts or your Apple Watch app. The Nike Adapt Huarache is the first iteration of the shoe to connect the Nike app so it can tighten or loosen the shoe based on user control. Those controls include speaking to Siri on your iPhone (“Hey Siri, loosen my left shoe for me”) or by using the Apple Watch app. Both offer preset modes for custom fits, and there is also support for Siri Shortcuts for even easier control over the laces and presumably so you can ask your Home Pod to untie your shoes because you’ve used all your energy on your run to chase after the ice cream truck. No, really. In a photo sent out with the announcement, there’s an example of a Siri Shortcut saying, “Hey Siri, release my shoes,” which should become a meme.
The tech is pretty cool, with the Nike FitAdapt lacing system linked to one of the few “midfoot motors” in existence, controlled by a multifaceted Nike Adapt app. The app will allow people sporting the Nike Adapt Huarache to access “a number of preset fit recommendations for foot type and activity,” according to the announcement. The app can work with Apple Watch and Siri to “support on-the-go shifts,” which is something both professional athletes and competitive mall walkers can appreciate.
Sneakerheads eager to test out the new tech will most likely have to pay up, though: Expect a pretty price tag when the first round is released on September 13. The Adapt BB shoes with those sweet LED lights had a $350 price tag initially, so the Nike Adapt Huarache price tag could be north of that.
