Nike to launch 'Back to the Future' shoes?

Posted Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 3:54 PM Central

by John Couture

What's the old saying about art imitating life imitating art? I wonder if there's anything in there about art imitating future life?

Or would that be future life imitating future art?

If you're confused, don't worry, I'm pretty sure I just confused myself too.

For those fans who remember Back to the Future, Part II, you will recall that Marty travels into the future and comes across futuristic Nike shoes that lace themselves. If you're still a bit foggy, I've included a picture below.

They got quite a few nice closeups as Marty rode his hoverboard around Hill Valley in 2015. I imagine that Nike paid a nice little fee for the film to feature its shoes. Although back in those days, filmmakers may have approached Nike and asked if they could include the futuristic shoes into the movie for free. Back then, product placement wasn't the thriving industry that it is today.

Ironically, Nike might be the ones to profit handsomely from this placement almost 22 years ago. Ever since the film came out, fans of the movie and shoe fans in general have been drooling over the prospect of owning a pair of "Nike McFlys."

Last year, Nike teased these would be customers when one of their patent filings went public and seemed to confirm that the company was working on technology that would make the Nike McFlys a reality, even before 2015.

Flash forward to today and Nice Kicks writer Matt Halfhill shares with his readers a mysterious invite from Nike to a product launch this evening that all but confirms the inevitable release of Nike McFlys. You can check out the details and awesome pics in his article here.

What do you think? Would you buy a pair of Nike McFlys if they were reasonably priced? What other film creations would you like to see? Personally, I'd love to have a hoverboard.