Nike Fit, an AI-powered foot-scanning technology, will help customers find 'perfect' shoe size

(CBSSports) -- There's a good chance you're wearing the wrong size shoe right now, according to recent studies. Nike is trying to fix that.

La Trobe University found in 2018 that between 63 and 72 percent of study test subjects wore shoes that didn't adequately accommodate the size of their feet. Business Insider said two years earlier that 80 percent of men had the same problem. And now Nike, the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes, says three out of every five people are suffering the same fate.

So after more than a year of quiet testing and development involving "thousands of shoppers" and employees, Nike has unveiled the creation of Nike Fit, a new shoe-sizing technology that combines "computer vision, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence and recommendation algorithms" to measure and provide the "truly perfect fit for each Nike shoe style."

Michael Martin, the company's vice president of direct product, growth and innovation told Quartzy this week that Nike receives "more than half a million complaints about size and fit" every year. He also noted that in-person Nike sales associates "usually have to pull at least two pairs of shoes for every person who tries on a style" in the store.

Nike Fit may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but in reality, it stems from the work of an Israeli computer-vision startup that Nike acquired in 2018, according to Quartzy. And it's meant not only to cut down on all those ill-fitting shoes but enhance the consumer's shopping experience both online and in stores.

The technology even includes a "guest mode" that allows you to scan other people's feet for proper sizing. No more guessing the best fit for your spouse's Christmas gift!

Nike will begin rolling out the Nike Fit technology on its app -- and in select U.S. stores -- starting in July. An additional expansion to stores in Europe is reportedly planned for August.