The self-lacing sneakers are real

In the 1989 hit movie ‘Back To The Future Part II’, the protagonist Marty McFly travels to what was then the strange and distant future day of October 21, 2015, encountering all sorts of strange modern technologies, like hover boards, dog-walking drones, and shoes that lace themselves up. That’s today, and while our hover boards are far from cinematic perfection, Nike has gone ahead and brought the shoes from the movie into real life.
Back To The Future star Michael J. Fox said the self-lacing shoes will be available for the public in Spring 2016. No price has yet been released, but the announcement fulfills years of rumors and hopes from fans of both the film and the shoe company.

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While Back to the Future gave the design some retro-future chic, there are real, practical applications for self-lacing kicks. Shoes that lace themselves are great for people with disabilities, who may have trouble tying their shoes. Michael J. Fox himself suffers from Parkinson’s, and a letter from Nike that Fox tweeted out earlier yesterday says money from the shoes will go to Fox’s foundation to fight Parkinson’s.
In the meantime, there are DIY instructions for those who don’t want to wait until 2016 to live in the future.
Credit: popsci.com

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