The most intelligent? Take a look at the smart sneakers that made Nike and adidas feud badly

This court (and any in the near future) is unlikely to surpass the trial of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. In general, legal disputes between major brands are quite typical, especially among brands that produce sneakers. Considering the number of models produced each year by different companies, imagine how similar some of the new products are. You don’t have to look far to find examples: last year Nike sued New York designers MSCHF, who together with rapper Lil Nas X released ‘satanic sneakers’ – you don’t know. remember? They would also have mixed the blood of company employees. The problem was simply that the novelty was created on the basis of Nikes – only the original company forgot to warn about this.

This time, the same unexpectedly found “family ties” between Nike and adidas shoes are at the center of the feud. In 2005, the German brand launched, as they wrote in a lawsuit, “the world’s first smart running shoe”. Inside the sole of this model there is a mechanism that regulates the stiffness of the shoe in real time and adapts to the type of coating. After four steps, the device determined the level of pressure on the heel and began adjustment – which for a 17-year-old novelty was more than gradual for a long time.

In 2019, a serious new player appeared on the market – Nike Adapt, self-lacing sneakers. It was designed for basketball players who frequently change foot position during play, which involves varying degrees of leg strain. During blood flow, the lacing relaxes – this process can be controlled using an app on a smartphone or buttons on the shoe itself. Technologically, the thing is of course amazing, but uncertain for adidas. Besides the suspicion that the “adapters” are based on “Nikes”, the company sued 8 other counts of patent infringement.

For 2022, the smart sneakers have of course received many changes. They record your run and display its course on a smartphone, count the pulse and track the results (to be adjusted in case of sudden laziness). Some shoes even pick up the right track for your run, the pace of which is in sync with the pace of your run – amazing, isn’t it?