Behind the laces: A closer look at Marty McFly's 2011 Nike Mag

Los Angeles Times, September 16, 2011 | 3:05 pm

But unless you're a hardcore "Back to the Future" fan and/or over-the-top sneakerhead, there's probably a good deal you don't know about the origins of what many have (until now) dubbed the "greatest shoe never made."

How Nike ended up in "Back to the Future Part II"

Tinker Hatfield credits Nike's global director of entertainment marketing for "arranging the marriage." "I think we found out about it about a month before we came down here to meet with Amblin [Entertainment], and at that point the script was still being written. At that meeting, we were asked to imagine what the future looked like -- especially the footwear of the future. We knew a little bit about the idea behind magnetic levitation -- hence the name Nike Mag. Discussions after that focused on ways to make the shoe 'come alive,' which resulted in the idea of them being self-lacing."

The inspiration for that paint-flecked sole

"It's called Zolatone, and it was used a lot in the the ‘60s but had a lot of resonance in the’80s," Hatfield said. "You’d see it on things like the interiors of Airstream trailers."