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App lets you customize sneakers with Instagram pics

Posted at 11:50 AM, May 21, 2014
and last updated 2014-05-21 11:50:06-04

(CNN) — In case your social feeds aren’t enough of a platform, you can now take a selfie and print it — on your sneakers.

Adidas says it’s creating mobile apps that will let users make a fashion statement by printing any photo, including Instagram pics, on a pair of shoes. The app will launch for iPhone and Android in August, Adidas announced on its Instagram page.

The technology is part of the relaunch of “mi adidas,” the shoemaker’s customizable-sneakers program, and is available for its line of Originals lifestyle shoes, such as the ZX Flux (but not its sport shoes). Adidas spokesperson RaEsa Benjamin-Wardle said more details on prices and how the app works will be forthcoming.

Some sample styles that Adidas suggests on its website: cherry blossoms, tree bark, a beach scene and a hamburger with all the fixings.

The Instagram post had garnered more than 42,000 likes by Tuesday afternoon, perhaps an indication of potential customers.

But will fashion-forward shoppers want to wear their filtered Instagram creations on their feet?

“Sneakers bring out a particularly devoted level of fans. If Kanye does a sneaker, people pay thousands of dollars for it,” said Mickey Boardman, editorial director at Paper magazine and a sneaker enthusiast. “This is a fun way for maybe less intense fans to make a conversation piece.”

The ZX Flux sneakers offer a mostly clean, uncluttered canvas on which creative sneakerheads can print their favorite image. Boardman predicted the limitless options will bring out the quirky side of customers.

“If you can customize, you gotta go there, you have to follow your bliss,” he said.

Other brands like Casetagram have been letting customers use their Instagram and Facebook photos to create unique cases for iPhones, iPads, and Samsung Galaxy devices. But printing these photos on shoes appears to be new.

The-CNN-Wire
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