If you’ve ever raised a child, you know there are certain major milestones that you will need to achieve. These are things like sleeping through the night, walking, talking and (my personal favorite) potty training. There are untold additional developmental steps that will provide bragging rights with your friends, and keep your pediatrician from asking too many questions. Some examples include drinking from a cup, getting dressed, and the all-important tying of shoes. The advent of Velcro may have delayed the emergence of this latter skill, but every child eventually needs to master it. Until now.

Tying shoes will soon be a lost art, and you have Dr. Emmett Brown to thank for it. Played by actor Christopher Lloyd in the Back to the Future flicks, it was Doc Brown who introduced Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) to the amazing self-tying shoe. Several years ago Nike picked up on this, introducing a limited edition Nike Mag to raise money for the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. The Mag was just like Marty’s with one exception; it didn’t actually tie itself. Once Doc and Nike had floated the idea, all that was left was to fill in the technical details. Enter Powerlace.

The company’s co-founder, Frederick Labbé, is noted for saying, “I always hated to tie my shoes.” He could have worked this out with his therapist and stopped there, but instead he set out to realize the future that Doc and Marty had foreseen. If tying your shoes is standing in the way of your successful journey through life, you can either send $175 to the Powerlace Kickstarter campaign, or wait for Nike’s version to hit the market sometime next year.

I’m not sure if self-tying shoes will gain any traction, but if some entrepreneur decides to Kickstart a self-tying necktie, count me in.

*just a few of the creative ways to tie your shoes, soon to be extinct