Footwear and Technology

Get to know the world of tomorrow!

Nowadays, shoes are a commodity that we already take for granted that will always exist, so brands search for new ways to stand out from the rest. Either by lowering production costs, by using unusual materials or reinventing designs, brands do anything to get to the top! Another way to stand out is by betting on technology and innovating designs, since it’s hard enough to find anyone fully disconnected from the global network, but how to you combine technology and shoes together?

Perhaps you recall a previous post that we’ve published about footwear and innovation, but today on the EscapeShoes blog we’d like to dive a little bit more into this issue, as innovation’s something that never stops! And believe us, these innovations will leads us far beyond the LED light sneakers that you sometimes see on the streets or the shoe phone that you’ve probably saw on the 60s television show, Get Smart. Let’s begin!

Smart Sneakers

With the revolution of wearable technology, companies have been investing on sneakers with sensors that allow to register the fitness progress of their users. But not only that! They also look into the possibility of these sensors detecting fatigue and stress and even heating up the shoes. There are even being developed smart sneakers for specific sports such as golf, as the shoes gather data pertaining to your balance, state of the terrain, weight distribution, etc. and transfer all of it to a phone app to give you the best opportunity to make a hole-in-one!

Self-lacing sneakers

Tying shoelaces is such a boring thing, isn’t it? It’s something that you always need to do to put on the shoes, take off the shoes or when they come untied… So, who was jealous when they saw Marty McFly with his self-lacing Nike in the film Back to the Future Part II? Well, on said film these sneakers already existed in 2015, but do they actually exist today? Nike made sure they did and in 2015 it announced that it had developed the first self-lacing sneakers! The best of all? It’s predicted that they’ll arrive in the market next holiday season! Just look at the video below to see the demonstration of this amazing technology!

Colour-changing shoes

Are there times when you’d like to change the colour of your favourite pair of shoes? Well, now that possibility exists! With a phone app, we can select specific areas of the shoes and change their colours. This is possible thanks to a special material that can be programmed to reflect different wavelengths of light. There are already many companies that betted on this technology, so it’s something that you can surely look forward to seeing in the future!

Charger shoes

How practical would it be if next time you go camping and your phone runs out of battery you could simply charge it with your shoes? This way you’d never miss out on the fun! This type of shoes has a battery outside or inside that’s charged previously and then you can hook up your phone to this battery to charge it. They’ll be a lifesaver when you’re on a long journey with no power source in sight!

Of course aesthetics will continue to be important, but it’s interesting to see how far these new technologies can take something that we take so much for guaranteed as shoes! But, until then we still have to wait a little bit longer, since many of these types of shoes are still in their prototype stage. But don’t get your hopes down, because nowadays there are already many technologies included in shoes specifically to improve your comfort and performance, such as Gore-Tex, the famous membrane that makes your shoes waterproof, and Vibram soles for out-of-this-world traction! And these technologies are already within your reach in shoes that you’ll be able to find at EscapeShoes! Buy your ideal pair and “innovate” your wardrobe!