Nike’s new sneaker innovation? No hands required – CBS News

Nike’s new shoe can help athletes and non-athletes alike get out the door quicker. The sporting gear company on Monday unveiled hands-free footwear that offers faster dressing — and undressing. 

The new laceless shoe, called the Nike Go FlyEase, doesn’t require wearers to use their hands to slip the sneaker on and off. That makes it suitable for people on the go as well as a range of athletes with physical disabilities, according to the compay.

“In the Nike Go FlyEase, this translates to serving the broadest range of active lifestyles possible — whether the wearer is champion fencer Bebe Vio, a student racing to class or a parent with their hands full,” Nike said in a statement.

Vio, an Italian fencer, who lost both her arms and legs to meningitis as a child and competes in a wheelchair, walks using prosthetic legs. Putting on her shoes is usually a time-consuming activity. 

“Usually I spend so much time to get in my shoes,” Vio said in a statement. “With the Nike Go FlyEase, I just need to put my feet in and jump on it. The shoes are a new kind of technology, not only for adaptive athletes but for everyone’s real life.”

Sarah Reinertsen, an American Paralympic athlete and a member of the FlyEase design team, said people with disabilities, pregnant women and busy parents were among those who inspired the shoe concept.

“If you design for the most extreme needs, then you’re unlocking benefits for everybody,” she said. “If a shoe works for someone who has no hands, then it will work for people who have two hands.”

“We were also inspired by pregnant women who don’t even have kids yet but can barely bend over in their third trimesters,” Reinertsen added. 

Earlier FlyEase models allow for quicker entry and exit through the use of zippers and cords but none are completely hands-free. The collection of running, basketball and everyday shoes was designed to “unlock benefits for all athletes,” according to Nike. 

The innovative $120 shoe will be available in limited quantities on February 15 and be made more broadly available later this year, according to Nike.

Consumers on social media have praised the latest style. 

“Hyped for the @Nike #GOFlyEase my sister lost the use of her left arm in 2007 and those would be awesome for her,” Twitter user Roman Ruiz said.