An environmentally friendly shoe component of a shoe includes scraps and an elastic material layer within which the scraps are distributed, the scraps include bottle scraps made by crushing plastic bottles, the elastic material layer is made of thermosetting polyurethane elastomer, and at least a part of the scraps is visible by a human's naked eye.

A system of manufacturing equipment including molds for a direct injection production of footwear. The system includes a design facility that provides a design. A mold manufacturing facility manufactures a mold for the design for molding a sole of the footwear. A last manufacturing facility manufactures a last of the design. A footwear manufacturing facility manufactures footwear according to the design. The last corresponds to the footwear design and the mold corresponds to the footwear design. The mold is a basic direct injection mold and at least partly channels injection material to a mold cavity and further accommodates direct injection mold inserts. Mold descriptive data of the mold inserts is communicated to the footwear manufacturing facility to manufacture the mold inserts, or the mold inserts are manufactured at the mold manufacturing facility based on the mold descriptive data and transported to the footwear manufacturing facility.

A system for manufacturing equipment for a direct injection production of footwear. The equipment includes molds for direct injection production of footwear. The system includes a design facility that provides a footwear design. A mold manufacturing facility located manufactures a mold corresponding to the footwear design. The mold is for direct injection molding of a sole part of the footwear. At least one footwear manufacturing facility manufactures footwear according to the footwear design, utilizing a last corresponding to the footwear design and the mold corresponding to the footwear design. Last descriptive data relating to said last corresponding to said footwear design is provided. The last descriptive data is communicated to the footwear manufacturing facility for manufacturing the last at the footwear manufacturing location or the last is manufactured at a last manufacturing facility, based on last descriptive data, and transported to the footwear manufacturing facility.

A molding system for direct injection manufacturing of footwear. The molding system includes a mold cavity for receiving injection material for molding a sole part of the footwear. The system further includes a plurality of basic direct injection molds, each of which is attachable to injection molding equipment, and a plurality of sets of direct injection mold inserts, each set of direct injection mold inserts being configured to define at least part of an inner surface of the mold cavity when inserted in one of the plurality of basic direct injection molds. At least two of the plurality of basic direct injection molds differ from each other in size, corresponding to different ranges of sole part sizes.

A non-woven textile may be formed from a plurality of thermoplastic polymer filaments. The non-woven textile may have a first region and a second region, with the filaments of the first region being fused to a greater degree than the filaments of the second region. A variety of products, including apparel (e.g., shirts, pants, footwear), may incorporate the non-woven textile. In some of these products, the non-woven textile may be joined with another textile element to form a seam. More particularly, an edge area of the non-woven textile may be heatbonded with an edge area of the other textile element at the seam. In other products, the non-woven textile may be joined with another component, whether a textile or a non-textile.

A non-woven textile may be formed from a plurality of thermoplastic polymer filaments. The non-woven textile may have a first region and a second region, with the filaments of the first region being fused to a greater degree than the filaments of the second region. A variety of products, including apparel (e.g., shirts, pants, footwear), may incorporate the non-woven textile. In some of these products, the non-woven textile may be joined with another textile element to form a seam. More particularly, an edge area of the non-woven textile may be heatbonded with an edge area of the other textile element at the seam. In other products, the non-woven textile may be joined with another component, whether a textile or a non-textile.

Aspects hereof relate to a multi-part mold assembly for use in manufacturing articles. The mold assembly provides for contouring, shaping and cutting materials to form articles via a continuous single processing operation. The mold assembly includes an upper mold portion with a three-dimensional contouring/shaping portion and a first cutting edge, a lower mold portion with a three-dimensional contouring/shaping portion and a second cutting edge, and a base portion into which the lower mold portion may retract during use. Upon application of a first force, the upper and lower mold portions cooperate to contour/shape a material from which an article is to be formed. Upon application of a second force greater than the first, the first cutting edge and the second cutting edge interact to shear the material that extends beyond the respective cutting edges. The result is an article that is contoured, shaped and cut/trimmed utilizing a single processing operation.

A sole structure of an article of footwear is provided and includes a first midsole portion including a first sidewall and a second midsole portion including a second sidewall. The sole structure also includes a first sheet disposed between the first midsole portion and the second midsole portion and including a first surface and a second surface formed on an opposite side of the first sheet than the first surface. The first sheet includes one or more apertures extending through the first sheet from the first surface to the second surface. The first midsole portion and the second midsole portion are operably connected through the one or more apertures of the first sheet.

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 footwear article forming process, and a device for the same are disclosed. The process includes: providing a forming mold set including an outer modular mold, an inner formation mold, and a footwear-forming space therebetween. The footwear-forming space comprises a footwear lower portion forming space and a footwear main portion forming space. Footwear article forming steps are as follows: injecting a pre-determined amount of a footwear main portion rubber material into a footwear main portion sprue channel, the footwear main portion rubber material being injected from a footwear main portion rubber injection opening into the footwear main portion forming space via a transfer injection channel; and placing a footwear lower portion rubber material into the footwear lower portion forming space.