Nike may have started the self-lacing sneakers hype but it’s not the only company that wants to see you shoes that can lace themselves up. Puma has revealed the Puma FI, its very own lacing sneakers. Apparently, FI stands for Fit and Intelligence. This is actually not the company’s very first product of this kind. That title would go to the Puma Autodisc which was revealed in 2015.
The shoe itself is not all that different from what you’d expect from a Puma pair. There are no conventional laces here as they have been replaced in favor of a motorized solution which is placed in the tongue of this shoe.
This won’t be possible without power and for that, the shoe has a pair of batteries that can last around seven days on a charge. They can be removed from the shoe and charged separately. The Puma FI link up to mobile devices, including an Apple Watch, to allow users to tie up the shoes at the touch of a button.
The panel on the shoe itself is touch-enabled so it only needs a swipe to tighten up the shoes to the point where the user feels that they fit perfectly. As you can probably imagine, these sneakers won’t come cheap. The expected price tag is $330 and it’s going to be a long wait to get them as Puma is going to release them early next year. Yes, we’re apparently at a point in 2019 when 2020 doesn’t feel that far off anymore.
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