Nike Debuts Self-lacing Trainer
Nike has launched a new trainer that automatically tighten around your foot when you’re ready to run.
Titled the Nike HyperAdapt 1.0, the trainer uses an adaptive lacing solution – taking its cues from digital, electrical and mechanical engineering – that wraps the foot, and can then be manually tightened or loosened via two buttons on the side.
The new technology was presented at a Global Innovation Summit in New York City by Nike designer Tinker Hatfield, and senior innovator Tiffany Beers.
Tiffany Beers, senior innovator at Nike and the project’s technical lead, explained: “Functional simplicity reduces a typical athlete concern, distraction. “When you step in, your heel will hit a sensor and the system will automatically tighten.”
Hatfield commented: “Innovation at Nike is not about dreaming of tomorrow. It’s about accelerating toward it. We’re able to anticipate the needs of athletes because we know them better than anybody. Sometimes, we deliver a reality before others have even begun to imagine it.
“It is amazing to consider a shoe that senses what the body needs in real-time. That eliminates a multitude of distractions, including mental attrition, and thus truly benefits performance.
“Wouldn’t it be great if a shoe, in the future, could sense when you needed to have it tighter or looser? Could it take you even tighter than you’d normally go if it senses you really need extra snugness in a quick manoeuvre? That’s where we’re headed. In the future, product will come alive,” concluded Hatfield.
