Nike's new app, Nike Fit, will use AR to help find the right sneaker fit, expected to launch in the US in July
Did you know that three out of every five people … Rae Witte / TechCrunch : With new Fit technology, Nike calls itself a tech company Trevor Mogg / Digital Trends : Nike Fit aims to help you slip into your new sneakers more easily PYMNTS.com : Nike Introduces Smart Shoes JC Torres / SlashGear : Nike Fit app uses AI to determine your exact shoe size Shelby Brown / CNET : Nike Fit AR tool looks to help you find your perfect shoe size Lauren Thomas / CNBC : Nike's app will soon be able to scan your foot and tell you your shoe size. Here's how it'll work Tres Dean / Geek.com : Nike Fit App Uses AR to Help You Determine the Right Shoe Size Kyt Dotson / SiliconANGLE : Nike uses augmented reality to get people into better-fitting shoes Oliver Haslam / Redmond Pie : Nike App's AR Feature On iPhone Finds The Right Size Sneaker For You Chris Nuttall / Financial Times : Going Dutch on tech start-up tips Evan Selleck / iPhone Hacks : Nike Updating Its App to Support Using AR to Find the Right Fit For Your Next Shoe Tim / Droid Life : Nike Fit Feature Measures Your Feet Using Augmented Reality Trevor Daugherty / 9to5Toys : Nike Fit uses AR to help shoppers find just the right size shoe Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge : Nike's new app uses AR to measure your feet to sell you sneakers that fit Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat : Nike's iPhone app will use AR to fit shoes with sub-2mm accuracy Eben Novy-Williams / Bloomberg : Sick of Getting Returned Sneakers, Nike Tries a New Sizing App Peter Rubin / Wired : Nike Wants Your Sneakers to Fit Better, So It's Using AR Marc Bain / Quartz : You're probably wearing the wrong size sneaker, and Nike wants to help Ryan Christoffel / MacStories : Nike Introducing AR Shoe Sizing Feature This Summer Tweets: Heidi Burgett / @heidiburgett : 60% of people wear the wrong shoe size, Nike Fit aims to change that by using your smartphone's camera to comprehensively scan your feet in seconds. Details: https://news.nike.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Nike Fit lands mid-arc in a deliberate repositioning: since pouring money into health tracking alongside Under Armour in 2015, Nike has been building direct data connections with customers, and January's $350 Adapt BB power-lacing shoe already put an app at the center of the product itself. Fit extends that from the shoe to the purchase decision — a phone camera scan replacing the fitting-room guesswork.
The timing also rides on maturing AR plumbing: Facebook's AR Target Tracking beta showed image-triggered AR experiences going mainstream a year earlier, so Nike is shipping consumer AR on proven smartphone capability rather than experimental tech.
First-order effects
- US shoppers get a July-launched app that scans their feet via AR and outputs a size, moving sizing off store staff and measurement charts onto Nike's own software.
- Nike gains first-party foot-shape data from every scan, deepening the customer-data strategy it began with its health-tracking investments.
Second-order effects
- Rivals face pressure to match app-based fit tools or keep eating return costs and lost online sales where fit uncertainty blocks checkout.
- Aggregated scan data can feed back into last design and inventory, letting Nike size its product lines against real foot distributions rather than industry-standard molds.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, footwear brands compete less on distribution and more on owned software and data layers — a trajectory Nike later pushed further with the .SWOOSH virtual sneaker platform and its Our Force 1 virtual collection, where the digital product itself becomes the revenue line.
The trend: Athletic footwear is consolidating around companies that own the software layer between foot and product, from fit scanning to app-controlled shoes to virtual goods.