Nike's Adapt BB is an iPhone-controlled, self-lacing basketball sneaker

Following up on earlier teases, Nike on Tuesday announced the Adapt BB, a self-lacing basketball sneaker that can be controlled from smartphones, including the iPhone.

Simply slipping a foot into the shoe will trigger its motors, adjusting automatically to keep the shoe tight. Wearers can finesse this with manual buttons or the upcoming Nike Adapt app, which will let people adjust each shoe individually, and eventually create presets for different parts of a game.

Accordingly the shoe will even support firmware updates for its FitAdapt system.

Basketball was chosen because of the changes a player's foot can go through, Nike said. A foot can grow as much as half a size over the course of a game, and conventional shoes can potentially start too loose or end up too tight.

The Adapt BB is the end product of years of development. It began as the Mag, an extremely limited product based on the self-lacing Nikes in the 1989 movie "Back to the Future Part II." It evolved into 2016's HyperAdapt 1.0, a multipurpose shoe that was priced at $720 — well out of the range of the average person.

The new product is still more expensive than most athletic shoes at $350, even Nike's soccer cleats, which don't top $295.

Preorders for the Adapt BB start today ahead of a Feb. 16 ship date. The shoe comes in sizes ranging from Men's 8/Women's 9.5 to 14/15.5.

12 Comments

GeorgeBMac 11421 comments · 8 Years

About 5 years ago

Funny that they would choose basketball -- there's likely more potential here for runners: Not just in fit (which applies equally well if not more so) but in traction -- where the sole could adapt to different surfaces and terrains -- from pavement to dirt -- even mud and snow.

There is lots and lots of potential here -- but can Nike pull it off?
So far, they haven't done too well with the Nike App on Apple Watch. But I wish them luck -- for our sake!

yoyo2222 144 comments · 14 Years

Can hardly wait for the hack that unties the shoes during a fast break.

hentaiboy 1252 comments · 14 Years

GeorgeBMac said:

Funny that they would choose basketball -- there's likely more potential here for runners

It’s possible that these shoes are a little hefty with the motors and guff - runners normally want the lightest shoe possible.

Rayz2016 6957 comments · 8 Years

Isn’t it quicker to just bend down and … lace up your training shoes?

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

hentaiboy said:

GeorgeBMac said:

Funny that they would choose basketball -- there's likely more potential here for runners

It’s possible that these shoes are a little hefty with the motors and guff - runners normally want the lightest shoe possible.

Completely accurate about the need for lightness and I believe a shoe which could automatically adjust lace tension or overall shoe fit could be engineered to operate on simple mechanical principles instead of a battery-powered apparatus.