In 1986, PUMA unveiled the RS-Computer running shoe, a computerized sneaker that featured a chip in the heel to collect rudimentary (by today’s standards) data like distance, time, and calories. In 2015, PUMA built on the brand’s proprietary Disc technology, debuting the AUTODISC, which featured a built-in motor that would loosen or tighten cables hidden within the shoe.
That brings us to 2019, when PUMA has debuted the new self-lacing Fit Intelligence – or Fi -sneaker.
While it isn’t set to hit the market for another couple years, the new Fi shoe benefits from over three decades of research and development, and is “designed to automate, fine tune, and adjust performance fit for PUMA footwear,” as explained by the German sportswear brand, and when you have it in hand and see how it works, it’s pretty mind-blowing.
Charles Johnson, PUMA’s Global Director of Innovation, reduces the complex sneaker into simple terms by noting to Highsnobiety “It’s a fit system that’s motorized, that the user can adapt with some very easy methods.” These methods include swipe gestures on a touchpad located on the shoe’s forefoot. You can also use a mobile app to “actuate a fiber system that goes throughout the upper. So it supports the foot in key issues. That’s the primary functionality,” Johnson summarizes. With all that tech packed in, the shoe still looks pretty inconspicuous, dare i say, clean.
Above, we break down four key reasons that PUMA’s new Fit Intelligence sneaker is simply mind blowing.
The Fi training shoe will be available to consumers in 2020. Stay posted for more information as it arrives.
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- Video: Sam Walker
