When I heard that Puma is launching an Augmented Reality (AR) shoe, I was adequately intrigued. Will the AR shoe exist inside our phone screen while we run around barefoot? That’d be a phenomenal sale for Puma which can finally do away with manufacturing shoes in the real world.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, it turned out to be a real shoe, for the offline world, with AR frills.
It’s called LQD CELL Origin AR (the helpfully adds: pronounced /likwid/ /sel/).
The 4th paragraph of the press release talks about the shoe’s offline capabilities (that we’re most likely to use day after day): LQD Cell for Puma’s latest technology, which provides extra cushioning through hexagonal Profoam cells.
The first 3 paragraphs are about the AR capabilities, which is clearly the most important focus for Puma, with this launch.
So what does AR do for the shoe? In simple terms, if you view the shoe through the dedicated app, you can make the shoe burn. Inside the app, not in real life. Thankfully. And share it. You can play games in the app (even without the shoe!) and share your scores on a leaderboard.
There are more filters (like the fire filter) coming up later in the year. Like turning the shoes invisible (which you can, even offline, by removing them and throwing them away, I presume!), or a camera filter made to look like a surveillance feed.
There are fawning videos (The future of sneakers!) of the burning shoes online already, in reviews of the shoe!
The interesting—or bizarre—idea here is that a pair of shoes, with the primary purpose of,
a. offering the requisite cushion for your feet as you walk/run
b. look adequately cool to your peers/friends
…has now been turned into something that also,
c. becomes a content generation engine for your self-expression.
While I may look at this particular use of AR with sarcasm or derision based on my worldview, needs (in a shoe) and bias, I also understand this could be a decent-enough trend with younger audiences who put self-expression online (via Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat) as their top priority.
I only hope it is a short-lived trend because, in my view, this use of AR is vacuous, built entirely on vanity and not something one buys a pair of sneakers for.
It does not solve a real need through the purchase of this particular product. I believe such effects (filters) can be simulated through many other modes too, besides buying a pair of shoe, which one does for a very, very different reason.