Nike Plans Self-Lacing Shoes

Hoverboards may not yet be commonplace, but soon you might be able to live out your Back to the Future fantasies in at least one way: Self-lacing shoes. Nike has filed a patent for sneakers with an “automatic lacing system” that look very similar to the ones worn by Marty McFly in the second film, the Daily Mail reports.

According to the application, the shoes would have “a set of straps that can be automatically opened and closed to switch between a loosened and tightened position,” controlled by a button near the heel. And that hoverboard thing? That may be coming, too. The Mail notes that an artist developed one—albeit one that only moves up and down—earlier this year.
(More self-lacing shoes stories.)