Member Since: 7/31/2007
Posts: 8,201
|
"Paradigm shifting" auto-lacing shoe are now a reality
Quote:
Auto-lacing shoes are here, finally. And pretty well right on schedule. Thirty years after Back to the Future II sold the world on the concept in a fictional 2015, a startup called Powerlace in St Hubert, Canada has created a shoe that's claimed will pave the way for a paradigm shift in the shoe industry. The company's system uses a pressure plate in the heel to tighten shoes and a level at the lower rear end to release them, with an adjustment puller near the tongue.
They went through dozens of prototypes, starting with existing shoes that they modified and then later building their own from scratch. "The most important thing for us was to have a simple and effective system," Labbé says. "We did not want batteries, motors, or any unnecessary weight."
The team has tested the system up to 200,000 lacing cycles, which if it stands up to real-world use would mean the mechanism could operate without a hitch for 68 years if used four times a day – surely much longer than the rest of the shoe would last (I know I'm lucky if I can get two years daily use out of my shoes before they fall apart).
|
Full ► x
|
|
|
|
bring a converse/vans design