Nike Finally Goes Back To The Future, And It’s For A Good Cause

Sep 8, 2011, 7:13 PM UTC

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Remember the shoes from Back to the Future 2 that had “power laces”? Well in the name of charity, Nike is finally making those shoes a reality, and—while that’s completely insane—knowing Nike, it’s kind of amazing it took this long. Shoe collectors have been waiting on this for years, and there was even a petition at one point to get the shoes made.

Then, almost exactly a year ago, news broke that Nike had filed for a patent on shoes looked a whole lot like the Marty McFly’s, and we knew it was only a matter of time.

Now the shoe’s finally real, but there’s a twist.

(Edit: Another photo... They really exist).

Nike will make an official announcement later tonight, but for now, the word is that Nike’s only making 1,500 pairs of what they’ll call the Nike Air Mag, and each of the pairs will be auctioned off on eBay, with all proceeds benefitting the Michael J. Fox Foundation for fighting Parkinson’s.

Over the course of ten days, there will be 150 pairs auctioned of at nikemag.ebay.com. And in case you’re curious how deep the wormhole goes in the sneaker blogging world, all of this info came from a Spanish sneaker site. We’ll know more tonight after Nike’s official announcement. For now, Sole Collector provides more details, and God I want these shoes.

The 2011 Nike Air Mag is said to be Nike’s first rechargeable sneaker and is designed as an exact replica of the pair Marty wore in Back to the Future II. The shoes feature a bright LED panel and electroluminescent Nike branding. Slight changes, such as additional foam in the ankle and forefoot, have been put into place to improve comfort. One charge will keep the Air Mag lit for 5 hours.

Electroluminescent. Somehow the description makes the shoes sound even crazier in 2011 than they looked in 1989. And for the record, it’s cool that they finally went through with making the shoes, but it’s an even cooler move by Nike to use the buzz surrounding all this to help make a difference for Michael J. Fox and the 1.5 million other Americans suffering from Parkinson’s.

On a related note: If anyone wants to lend me $10,000 to win one of those auctions... It’s all going to charity! For now, though, I’m just going to focus on finding this room.