No sneaker has ever had more pop-cultural appeal than the ones worn by Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future Part II, the Nike Mag. Their ultra-high cut, light-up sole, and auto-lacing system were a look into, well, the future in 2015, from the film's 1989 perspective. They were designed by Tinker Hatfield, and it's taken Nike 27 years to make the sneakers exactly like they were in the film. But they're now here.
It's been a long journey for the Mags to finally come to fruition the way Hatfield had imagined them almost three decades ago, and they've gone through several iterations since then, too. This is their story.
No sneaker has ever had more pop-cultural appeal than the ones worn by Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future Part II, the Nike Mag. Their ultra-high cut, light-up sole, and auto-lacing system were a look into, well, the future in 2015, from the film's 1989 perspective. They were designed by Tinker Hatfield, and it's taken Nike 27 years to make the sneakers exactly like they were in the film. But they're now here.
It's been a long journey for the Mags to finally come to fruition the way Hatfield had imagined them almost three decades ago, and they've gone through several iterations since then, too. This is their story.
The shoes were first featured in "Back to the Future Part II"
The first time anyone saw the Nike Mag was in 1989, when they appeared in Back to the Future Part II. The film, for the most part, takes place in 2015, where there are auto-lacing and light-up sneakers. Michael J. Fox's character, Marty McFly, wears the sneakers to fit into modern times. The shoes were a far cry from his simple, leather Nike Bruins.
The shoes themselves were made possible with a bit of movie magic (they had an external battery), but it didn't stop sneakerheads, pop-culture junkies, and tech geeks from wanting a pair. But they'd have to wait.
Nike filed a patent for the auto-lacing system.
The first sign that Nike was going to pursue getting the creation of the Nike Mag came in 2008, when the company filed a patent for auto-lacing. Tinker Hatfield's name was on the patent, but Tiffany Beers's name was, too, who would eventually help Hatfield's vision of the future come to life.
Were the shoes coming soon? Well, sort of.
The sneaker first released in 2011, but something was missing.
The Mags first released in 2011, when they were made available through auctions that went to the Michael J. Fox foundation. They were almost the real thing, but not quite. They lit up and looked the same on the outside, but they were missing one key element: the auto-lacing. They were like a bacon, egg, and cheese without the ketchup -- close but no dice.
The sneakers, though, are still highly coveted even if they didn't lace up on their own. They have an average resale value of $8,593, according to StockX.
Michael J. Fox unveils an auto-lacing pair of the Mags
In Back to the Future Part II, Marty McFly travels to October 21, 2015, and Nike had big plans for when this day finally came. A lot of people thought the Mags would release, but they were in for a treat, either way. Michael J. Fox unveiled an auto-lacing pair of the shoes on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The day was full of nostalgia for the film. Tinker wrote Fox a letter, and it was confirmed that the shoes were, in fact, real.
But when would they release? Nike hinted that they were coming soon.
They're finally here, the way they should be.
It took almost a year from when the Mags were last seen, but Nike is now letting people get their own pair of the auto-lacing shoes. The brand has only made 89 pairs, to commemorate the year the film came out, and you can enter to win a pair by donating $10 to the Michael J. Fox Foundation. The shoes only come in sizes 7, 9, 11, and 13, and the raffle ends up on October 11.
100 percent of the proceeds will go to help fight Parkinson's disease, so everyone wins.