A method and a system for manufacturing a footwear. The footwear includes a footwear upper and a sole. The footwear upper has a lower end. The sole has an upper facing surface, a ground facing surface, and a side surface. The sole side surface includes a lateral side surface and medial side surface. The footwear upper lower end is attached to the side surface of the sole at least partly by a direct injection process of the sole. The direct injection process of the sole is being provided via a mold including at least two side mold parts. method and a system for manufacturing the footwear.

A method for manufacturing a sole structure involving supplying at least one textile sole element having an outer face, including one or more at least partially hot-meltable filament(s); placing the at least one textile sole element in a mould structure including a sole cavity intended to come into contact with the outer face of the textile sole element; placing an inflatable bladder in the mould structure and inflating the inflatable bladder to press the outer face of the textile sole element either directly or indirectly firmly against the sole cavity and heating the textile sole element to melt the at least partially hot-meltable filament(s) and mould the sole cavity onto the outer face of the sole element; obtaining a sole structure including a thermally compressed textile sole element.

Described herein is an automatic or automated process for injection molding of coated components, more particularly coated soles of plastic, where first of all the molding tool is lined with a release agent composition and, after flashing of this release agent composition, a composition for forming the component is injected. After crosslinking of these two compositions, the coated component produced is removed from the molding tool and subjected optionally to an aftertreatment.

A sole structure for articles of footwear and a method of manufacturing them comprising at least one polymeric foamed component expanded through supercritical fluid (SCF) expansion of a shaped pre-expanded polymeric material. The polymeric foamed component may include apertures situated and fashioned in the formation of the pre-expanded polymeric material to promote uniform expansion and optimal curing conditions during the SCF expansion process. At least one polymeric foamed component having one set of physical properties that may be bound to or assembled in conjunction with one or more sole components having the same or another set of physical properties.

Physical foaming a footwear component with a single-phase solution of a polymeric composition and a supercritical fluid is provided. The method include temperature conditioning a mold and then engaging the mold with a robot that conveys the mold to a press. At the press a gas counter pressure is applied to a cavity of the mold before injecting a single-phase solution of a polymeric composition and a supercritical fluid into the cavity of the mold. The process continues with releasing the gas counter pressure from the cavity of the mold and then removing the footwear component from the cavity of the mold. The parameters of the method are configured for the formation of the footwear component in an automated manner.

A plate for an article of footwear includes a base layer, a first strand layer, and a second strand layer. The base layer has a peripheral edge defining a medial side and a lateral side extending between a heel region and a forefoot region. The first strand portion is attached to the base layer via first stitching that crosses over the first strand portion and penetrates the base layer at first attachment locations that are spaced apart from the first strand portion. The first strand portion further includes adjacent segments that form a first layer on the base layer. The second strand portion is disposed on the first layer to form a second layer on the first layer and is attached to the base layer via second stitching.

This document discloses a process for manufacturing recyclable injection molded microcellular foams for use in, footwear components, seating components, protective gear components, and watersport accessories. The process includes the steps of providing a thermoplastic polymer which comprises at least one monomer derived from depolymerized post-consumer plastic, inserting a fluid into a barrel of a molding apparatus. The fluid is introduced under temperature and pressure conditions to produce a super critical fluid. The process further includes mixing the thermoplastic polymer and super critical fluid so as to create a single phase solution, and injecting the single phase solution into a mold of an injection molding machine under gas counter pressure. The process further includes foaming the single phase solution by controlling the head and temperature conditions within the mold.

A method of customizing the sole structure of an article of footwear includes providing a sole structure with a sole component having an inner surface and an opposite-facing outer surface. The sole component includes a plurality of inner recesses extending from the inner surface and a plurality of outer recesses extending from the outer surface, the plurality of inner recesses include a blind-hole inner recess, the plurality of outer recesses include a blind-hole outer recess, and the blind-hole inner recess is generally aligned with the blind hole outer recess along a vertical direction. The method further includes adjusting the flexibility of the sole component by selectively cutting or removing material from one or both of the blind-hole inner recess and the blind-hole outer recess.

Mold systems for molding fluid-filled elements include a lower mold body having a lower mold surface and an upper mold body having an upper mold surface. A mold apparatus is disposed between the lower and upper mold bodies. This mold apparatus includes: (i) a first arm providing a first mold surface extending between first and second ends of the first arm, and (ii) a second arm providing a second mold surface extending between first and second ends of the second arm. The first and second mold surfaces have surface contours configured to form molded undercut surface features of the fluid-filled element. Methods of molding fluid-filled elements using such mold systems also are described.

A method of manufacturing an article of footwear includes cutting a plurality of sipes into an outer surface of a pre-formed, foamed thermoplastic sole structure that has both an inner surface and an opposite outer surface. An adhesive is then applied to the inner surface of the pre-formed sole structure and the sole structure is heated to permit forming. The heated sole structure is positioned adjacent to a ground-facing surface of a lasted upper, and then is thermoformed against the lasted upper to draw the adhesive into contact with the ground-facing surface of the upper, and such that at least a portion of the pre-formed sole structure bends into contact with a sidewall of the upper.