Nike Mag
The Nike MAG is a limited edition shoe created by Nike Inc.[1] It is a replica of a shoe featured in Back to the Future Part II. The Nike Mag was originally released for sale in 2011 and again in 2016.
Overview
Back to the Future,in a trilogy of films, was a box office success. In 1989, Nike Inc. designer Tinker Hatfield was asked to create a shoe for the second installment of the series, which was partly set in the then-futuristic year of 2015. The shoe had features such as light-up panels and self-fastening laces.
Over 15 years later, an online petition that asked for the return of the shoes caught the attention of Tinker Hatfield. With the help of footwear innovator Tiffany Beers, they began to build the Nike MAG from scratch. They worked on the shoes for approximately six years and had to restart about three times. After thousands of hours of work, the shoes were a perfect replica of the 1989 Nike MAG worn by Marty McFly. The shoes feature an electroluminescent out-sole, space age materials, and a rechargeable internal battery good for 3,000 hours. They are the first rechargeable pair of footwear by Nike. Power laces, a prominent feature of the shoe in the film, are not present.[2] Nike has gone on record saying Mag is not meant for heavy activity and should not be worn for recreational purposes.
2011 release
A limited quantity of 1,500 pairs were auctioned on eBay on September 8, 2011 and proceeds were being dedicated to the The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's disease research.[3] Online sales of the shoe ranged between US$2,300 and US$9,959.[4] 10 additional pairs, packaged in deluxe presentation boxes, were sold exclusively by Nike at live auctions around the world,[5][6] for a total of 1,510 pairs.[7]
A total of US$4.7 million was raised from the online auctions.[8] Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, and his wife Anne Wojcicki agreed to match all donations of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, up to US$5 million through the end of 2011.[9] This brought the total proceeds from the online auctions up to US$9.4 million.[8]
2016 release
On October 21, 2015, which is the same date Marty McFly visited the future in Back to the Future Part II, Nike unveiled a self-lacing version of the Nike Mag which was scheduled to go on sale March 20, 2016.[10] However, it was delayed to October 4, 2016. Michael J. Fox was the first to get the shoes from Nike in October 2015.[11] On October 4th, 2016 Nike opened a raffle for the Nike Mag where anyone could purchase a ticket for $10, but the raffle was limited to 89 Pairs. All proceeds would be donated to Parkinson's research. Nike raised $6.75 million for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.[12]
Notes
References
- ↑ Kile III, George (September 8, 2011). "Nike Mag officially unveiled". Nice Kicks.
- ↑ "The Nike MAG". NIKE, INC. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
- ↑ Skidmore, Sarah (September 8, 2011). "'Back To The Future' Shoes To Be Released By Nike". Huff Post Los Angeles. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
- ↑ Ian Stonebrook. "Nike MAG Auction 2011 Final Numbers". Nice Kicks.
- ↑ Alex Synamatix (September 19, 2011). "Recap: 2011 Nike MAG London auction". The Daily Street.
- ↑ "Nike Mag 2011 Live Auction @ Niketown, NY". Sneaker News.
- ↑ Matt Halfhill. "Nike MAG Unboxing". Nice Kicks.
- 1 2 "Nike News – 2011 Nike Mag auction raises $4.7 million". NIKE, Inc.
- ↑ "'Back to the Future' Nike MAG to hit EBay, fight Parkinson's disease [Video]". Los Angeles Times. September 8, 2011.
- ↑ http://www.kixify.com/release-dates/nike/nike-mag-2016-pending
- ↑ Kim, Susanna (October 21, 2015) Nike Sending First Back to the Future Self-Tying Shoes to Michael J. Fox. ABC News
- ↑ http://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/10/20/nike-mag-raffle-results/