Creating a custom pair of shoes is an involved process that occurs between a discerning customer and an expert shoemaker, and can take weeks or months to finish.
Or, if you’re Nike and you do not have that kind of time, the entire process takes 90 minutes.
A new customization platform the firm rolled out in New York, “The Nike Makers’ Experience” allows sneakerheads to take a pair of shoes with the silhouette of the Nike Presto X and detail everything from the color to the pattern on the side.
Based on graphics that are “generated from either Nike heritage or on-the-spot phrases,” the customization tool will create “patterns through shifts to size and color” using “dynamic object tracking and projection systems that instantly bring designs to life.”
The gist: a customer wears blank sneaks between a pair of projectors equipped with augmented reality tech, then using phrases and details of their choice, the AR software generates a custom pattern and projects it on the shoe. The customer can make adjustments until they are happy, then order the shoe — after about an hour behind closed doors, the custom pair emerges ready to lace up.
“The Nike Makers’ Experience is a fast, fun, interactive, one-of-a-kind design experience,” says Nike VP of Innovation Special Projects Mark Smith. “It takes most people longer to come up with their idea than it does for us to make it,” adds Smith. “In our minds, this is tomorrow, today.”
Now limited to friends, family and some Nike+ members, the service could eventually expand beyond NYC.
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