Did you know that according to a recent study, more than half of Americans aren’t wearing the size of shoe that best fits their feet? Nike, the world’s largest supplier of athletic shoes, is trying to fix that problem.
Earlier this month, Nike announced the Nike Fit app, which the company says combines “computer vision, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence and recommendation algorithms” to help provide a “truly perfect fit for each Nike shoe style.”
The app uses your smartphone’s camera to collect 13 data points mapping your foot’s size and shape in a matter of seconds. The app then tells the user the size of there feet and which size Nike shoe would provide the best fit. The app even has a guest mode where you can size up the feet of other individuals. No more guessing what size your spouse is for that birthday gift!
Shoe Fitting App
Nike said they created the app in response to complaints they received each year about the size and fit of some of their shoe models. Michael Martin, the company’s vice president of direct product, growth and innovation, said Nike receives “more than a half a million complaints about size and fit” each year, and that store associates often have to pull two pairs of shoes for each customer to ensure they get the size that best fits their foot.
The app hopes to streamline the process and cut down on ill-fitting options. Nike notes that the app doesn’t just determine your shoe size, it determines which shoe size you’ll want for particular styles of Nikes. For example, you may be a size 10.5 in one of their running shoes, but the app may recommend a size 11 in an athletic shoe that’s designed for everyday use. This ensures you have the right fit based on your shoe size and the activities you’ll be performing in them.
Nike plans on rolling out the app in the App Store and in select US stores in July, and they have plans to expand it to stores in Europe in August. Hopefully the app works as planned and gets hundreds of thousands of Americans out of their ill-fitting shoes and into a pair perfectly fitted to their foot.
