Black sneaker not really gelling with your outfit? Pop open an app on your smartphone and add a streak of yellow.
+rehabstudio, a company that makes innovative marketing campaigns, recently unveiled its concept for the "Shift Sneaker," a shoe comprised of material that can communicate with your smartphone and shift colors on demand.
"Shift Sneaker explores what might be possible in the near future based on various existing materials, which currently only have industrial applications, and forecasted materials like phase change fibres and meta-materials, which are still to be made," Mike Veitch, Managing Partner at +rehabstudio, told The Huffington Post via email.
In theory, there are a lot of clever applications for a smart shoe that could change colors on a dime. +rehabstudio posted a few ideas on its website: You could take a selfie to automatically swap the color of your shoes to match your clothing; a "running pack" could make the sneakers glow different colors depending on whether or not you're on pace; a "cycling pack" would keep folks safe at night with bright, glowing colors.
Don't get too excited, though. The sneakers are still very much a theoretical concept. You won't see them until phase-change fibers and meta-materials are actually manufacturable for consumer products, Veitch said. But when that happens, he imagines these high-tech kicks might cost about as much as an average shoe -- and generate more money from color packs on your smartphone, of course.
For now, wearable technology like the Apple Watch or Android Wear smartwatches might represent the best opportunity for chameleonic fashion. The DressWatch app lets you snap a picture of your clothes and change your smartwatch's face to match the color palette, for example.
And "adaptive" surfaces might soon crop up in the world around you. Veitch told HuffPost that +rehabstudio is currently making smart storefronts a reality, meaning you could get a personalized experience the moment you walk past a shop window. Neat!
H/T Tech Times