(Kasper Rorsted.AP/Michel Euler)

Nike's first mass consumer self-lacing sneaker the HyperAdapt 1.0, now available for purchase in two Nike stores in New York City, is poised to change sneakers are we know them.

But the technology is not without its skeptics, and one very biased skeptic — chief rival Adidas' CEO — cast doubt on its usefulness.

“I don’t know if that’s a save-the-world product,” Kasper Rorsted told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published in the paper on Thursday.

Nike's innovations usually revolve around the athlete, and technology improving either performance, comfort, or useful taking it to an extreme — of which the self-lacing shoes are an extreme example. While Adidas shares a focus in this, but also have a focus on sustainability initiatives such as its sneakers made from ocean plastic or using a sustainable biodegradable silk instead of plastic altogether.

The swoosh has big hopes for its self-lacing technology, and Nike's CEO going as far as to say comparing the self-lacing sneaker tech with self driving car tech is a "good analogy" in terms of mainstream appeal in an interview this year on CNBC.

(Nike)

Regardless, for now the HyperAdapt 1.0 is a niche product — a piece of halo effect technology at $720. Just like Nike's other innovations, however, self-lacing sneakers will likely trickle down into cheaper models in some form.

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