It's About Time. Nike's Back to the Future Shoe, Campaign and Charitable Auction.

To raise funds for Michael J. Fox's Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Nike designed 1500 pairs of Nike MAG shoes based on the kicks worn by Fox's character Marty McFly in the original movie, "Back To The Future" to be auctioned off on ebay and at select Niketown stores.



The project consists of the shoe auction, a short film, poster designs, ceramic models of the shoe, souvenir pins and impressive displays- complete with DeLorean, flux capacitor, hoverboard and more.





The MAG shoes feature an electroluminescent outsole, spage-age materials and a rechargeable internal battery good for 3,000 hours. Designed by Tinker Hatfield and Tiffany Beers, the Nike shoes took six years, three restarts and thousands of hours. Not recommended for athletics, it's a coveted collectible by both entertainment industry and sneaker freakers.


above: Tiffany Beers and Tinker Hatfield designed the collectible shoe



By now, all of the shoes have been auctioned off, but the Wieden + Kennedy two minute film featuring Bill Hader with Christopher Lloyd reprising his role as Dr. Emmett Brown is quickly climbing the viral charts:



Tinker Hatfield, Donald Fullilove and KD also make appearances in this short film about the most famous shoes never made, in an effort to support the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's research.



2011 Nike Mag Price Infographic
For sneaker collectors and enthusiasts curious about the recent 2011 Nike MAG developments, a pricing infograph has surfaced courtesy of Fordham University Graduate School of Business student, Zach Kingsley:



This piece of information above illustrates the economics of getting a pair in the most popular size 10. The infographic compares the price points of Nike’s coveted shoe against a timeline to see its steady decline. Updated every night, sources of this infograph come from eBay’s completed listings of MAG’s nightly sales.

Poster designs for the Back For the Future Event:


above: Back to The Future Nike poster designs by Kate Gibb, Brent Rollins, La Boca and Will Sweeney

Michael J. Fox says a few words about the project:


Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
To learn more, go to www.back4thefuture.com

Brass Monki Puts Pop Culture On Kicks Resulting In The Coolest Custom Nikes.

above: Street artist Banksy's Rat recreated on pair of leather Nikes designed and sold online by Brass Monki

Brass Monki is a talented 22 year old artist named Daniel Reese who hails from Merseyside [near Liverpool] in the UK. In 2009 he began using software to place pop culture imagery and icons from video games, movies, art, comic books, logos and other popular brands upon footwear.



The response was so positive, he began to actually hand paint one-off pairs of leather Nikes and sell them online. His eye for composition and color makes his creations very desirable as wearable art. Below are his designs, several of which are available for purchase.

Lego:

Bob Marley:

Blink 182:

Kick Ass:

Resevoir Dogs:

Robocop:

Watchmen:

The Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo:

Mario:

Luigi:

Princess Peach:

Oscar The Grouch:

The Cookie Monster:

Minnie Mouse:

R2D2:

Batman:

Wolverine:

Green Lantern:

Iron Man:

Blanka:

Captain America:

Dr. Robotnik:

Sonic The Hedgehog:

Castle Crashers:

Pac Man:

Buzz Lightyear:

Woody:

Firefox:

Google:

Colour Doodles:

Doodle Splash:

Light Swirl:

Some of the above shoes are available for purchase right now in his online store.

NOTE: It should be known that I have not personally purchased shoes from Brass Monki nor have I seen anything but computer generated rendering of his shoes. That said, I feel I must remind you to either do your own online research before purchasing or "Buyer Beware."  Especially since some of my readers have left comments regarding their bad experiences with Brass Monki.


See more of his shoe designs on flickr.