- The 2015 Nike Mag (n/a)
October 21, 2015. Today. AKA “Back to the Future Day.” The day Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) traveled to back in 1989 in the film Back to the Future II. And also the day the world would lay eyes on the first-ever pair of Nike Air Mags, a futuristic sneaker with “power laces” that would automatically tighten at the tap of a finger.
Ever since then, legions of fans have been dreaming of a real pair of Nike Air Mags to come out to the public, and back in 2011, they did. Sort of. A limited number of 1,500 Nike Air Mags were created by Nike and auctioned off on eBay to help raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation. The shoes looked almost identical to the original pair first seen in the movie and even had many of its futuristic features, including a colorful electroluminescent outsole, space-age materials, and a rechargeable internal battery that lasted up to 3,000 hours. However, they were missing one key fey feature—the coolest one of them all—the revolutionary power laces.
Since then, rumors abounded as to if and when Nike would ever release the real deal Air Mags. Ones that didn’t just look like the original pair, but also functioned like them—power laces and all. Many believed today, the official Back to the Future Day, would be the day Nike would finally make the move. And indeed, after numerous rumors and reports of a pair traveling around NYC all over the internet today, the rumors finally came true. And who better to have revealed them than Michael J. Fox Himself?
According to Nike’s website, the 2015 Nike Air Mags include an “individually responsive system that senses the wearer’s motion to provide adaptive on-demand comfort and support.” But as the website points out, this is just the first iteration. The plan is to continue testing the technology across multiple sports, collecting player feedback and incorporating that feedback into future models that will hopefully turn into game-changing footwear for millions of athletes around the world.
As Nike President and CEO Mark Parker put it, “By imagining the future, we create it. Product that comes alive, with on-demand comfort and support when you need, product that senses you and adapts to you is right around the corner.”
And that corner is expected to take its first turn in the Spring of 2016, when a limited number of the new Nike Air Mags will once again be released for auction to help benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Except this time, they’ll come packed with power laces. Now if only we can get that hoverboard up and running. Thankfully, we’re not too far off.
