Nike’s self-lacing shoe, inspired by Back to the Future Part II, was recognized among the winners of Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards.
According to Fast Company’s review, Nike’s self-lacing shoes “are outfitted with tiny sensors that detect when wearers slide in their feet, activating a small motor-and-pulley system that automatically draws the laces to a certain degree of tightness based on the size and position of the foot. Buttons next to the tongue allow for easy adjustments depending on user preference and type of activity.”
“You can feel it tighten, hear the motor run, and see the laces [move],” said Nike senior innovation engineer Tiffany Beers. “It’s a shoe that ignites three senses.”
The winners were announced Tuesday on FastCoDesign.com. The finalists are featured in the October issue of the print magazine, which hits newsstands September 20.
The Innovation by Design Awards program, now in its fifth year, honors the most innovative and disruptive design solutions to today’s business problems. This year’s judging panel selected the finalists from more than 1,700 international submissions across 11 categories — the most ever. Honorees include big-name brands like Facebook and Target, design firms like Ideo and Pentagram and emerging companies like Kinduct and D.light.
Fast Company’s October issue also highlights L’Oreal, which is helping consumers monitor their sun exposure with its wearable My UV Patch; Oculus and Microsoft, which delivered virtual and augmented reality to the marketplace after billions in investment; Dyson, which produced the world’s most highly-engineered blow dryer; Planned Parenthood, which worked with Ideo to reimagine the patient experience and many more.
