Nike released the self-lacing Nike Mag shoes from Back to the Future in 2016.
The 2016 Nike Mag was inspired by the futuristic footwear worn by Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part II. Nike unveiled the updated design on October 21, 2015—the fictional date Marty visits the future—but the planned March 2016 release was delayed until October 4, 2016.
This launch followed Nike’s original 2011 Nike Mag, which recreated the film shoe but did not include functional power laces. The 2016 edition added Nike’s E.A.R.L. system, short for Electro Adaptive Reactive Lacing, allowing the shoe to tighten electronically around the wearer’s foot.
Only 89 pairs of the 2016 version were distributed through a fundraising raffle, with proceeds supporting the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research. A common mix-up is answering 2011: that was the year of the first Nike Mag release, not the self-lacing edition.