A lot of today’s connected gadgetry and wearables center around health and fitness. That’s noble, but smart device makers are ignoring an incredibly large population: those of us that are lazy. Some of us are perfectly happy laying on the couch all weekend, snacking on pizza, and binge-watching Netflix. Luckily, Pizza Hut is coming to couch potatoes’ rescue with a pair of smart sneakers.
The Pie Tops II smart sneakers are installed with Bluetooth-connected speakers, and pressing the tongue of one of the shoes automatically orders pizza from Pizza Hut. By pressing the tongue of the other shoe, you can pause your TV, thus fulfilling all of the connection needs of your lazy weekend at home. According to Fortune, the TV pausing abilities will work with smart models from Dish, DirecTV, Xfinity, Fios, and Spectrum.
The shoes aren’t a legitimate foray into the smart product space. Rather, they’re part of Pizza Hut’s March Madness marketing campaign. Still, 50 pairs will actually go on sale for a yet-to-be-revealed price tag the week of March 19, and other pairs will be given away on social media. Each pair of Pie Tops II sneakers will be custom-made by the Shoe Surgeon.
The smart sneakers are not subtle. They come in two colors, a marinara red or pizza crust tan. Both variants include some truly pizza-inspired details, like a marinara “splash” along the side, mesh accents that are definitely reminiscent of a cheese grater (as the Verge points out), and the word “pizza” printed on the sides of each sneaker. The Pizza Hut logo is on each tongue, and the left shoe appears to house an infrared blaster for your TV pausing needs.
Pizza Hut has a history of embracing technology in unique ways. Back in 2015, it came out with a pizza box that doubles as a movie projector. Earlier this year, Pizza Hut also announced it would eventually be a partner of Toyota’s autonomous e-Palette vehicle. The e-Palette could begin making self-driving deliveries on the pizza chain’s behalf as soon as 2020.
H/T the Verge