Crowdfunding project of the week - Vixole smart shoes can be customized on-the-go

Let’s start the year with the right foot in. The Sunday tradition continues and we are back with yet another ‘Crowdfunding project of the week’. This series is where we highlight the hottest projects from sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Shall we jump right in?

Other features projects: 

• The Compass Stone offers navigation without distractions
• Muggino smart mug
• The MATRIX PowerWatch runs on body heat

Sneaker aficionados rejoice, today we are taking a look at a smart shoe that will never get old (at least in terms of design). This is because the shoe’s rear design can be customized to your liking with the use of a smartphone app.

The e-sneaker looks pretty basic at first sight, but it is equipped with flexible LED displays that will light up the way for people behind you. It’s a true way to express yourself and showcase your own fashion statements. You can literally put anything on these shoes. The company even shows a user taking a picture and displaying the image on the shoes.

One can create unique designs, grab existing images, have the shoe interact with music, make it react to movement and more. And yes, they are also water resistant and charge wirelessly.

Something that really caught our eye is the fact that this technology has an open API. This means developers can start playing around with these and integrate them to whatever they want. They can become interactive with VR games, or coders can create their own apps for Vixoles.

It’s also possible to navigate through shoe vibration, track your steps and receive notifications. The things even have NFC chips installed, which means interacting with other Vixole users is only a shoe tap away. Some of these features only come on some versions of the shoe, though. Here is the rundown:

We know what you are thinking: “Yet another thing I have to charge”. Well, you do; and battery life averages at 8 hours per full charge. Charging to 100% takes about 2 hours. It’s not the best scenario in terms of battery life and charging times, but at least the shoes won’t become a brick once the battery dies. You can continue using them as regular shoes and they don’t look bad at all.

Pretty awesome right? It definitely seems like something I would love to try. They don’t sound cheap, though, so let’s move on to price and availability. They are actually not too expensive when compared to good shoes. Right now you can sign up for a pair by backing the project with as low as $160.

The goal has been met and the campaign has 8 more days to go. Estimated shipping is scheduled for June 2017. Are you signing up?