Nike does not want to be a sports brand any more

Nike will be adding a tool to its app that uses AR to scan and measure your feet in order to suggest the best shoe size. The American company now considers itself to be more of a tech company than a sports brand.

Augmented reality

The differences between shoe sizes, even within the same brand, can be huge and that often makes buying the right size quite a challenge. For online shoppers, who can not just try on some shoes, that is even worse. Nike intends to do something about that with Nike Fit, claiming that this tool can measure every individual foot (size, shape and volume) with two-millimeter accuracy, using your smartphone camera. The tool then suggests a size of the specific shoes you are interested in. The system uses the shoe’s internal volume (known for each model), the data of the measurement and the buying habits of people with feet of comparable size.

Nike stores intend to start using a similar system, indicating the company has a lot of faith in the tech’s ability to help store employees find the right size for their customers. The update to the app will be rolled out in July in the United States and most likely will be introduced in Europe in August.

“Fundamentally, at this stage, Nike is a technology company” says Michael Martin, vice president of growth and innovation at the American company. “It’s a technology company that builds upon its historical strengths in footwear design, storytelling and inspiration, and it’s able to use those in combination to solve problems that no one else can solve. We think this is arguably our biggest solution to date.”