Systems and methods for manufacturing knitted shoe uppers. An article of fully finished three-dimensionally weft knitted footwear is manufactured through a knitting process which can be performed by an automated V-bed flat knitting machine. The knitting process includes manipulating one or more double-knit stitch types and joining the stitches exclusively in the knitting process to create a seamless upper to fit a foot. A resulting upper advantageously has no sewn seams and requires no manual post process to cut or sew the upper to create the dimensional shape. The process creates a seamless, full gauge, dimensionally stable footwear upper, as a unitary textile construction with an integrated anatomically appropriate heel. The entire upper, including the closure element of the upper, may be completed exclusively by the knitting machine, ready for the following shoe making process.

The present invention provides a method for knitting three-dimensional shoe blanks, comprising: knitting a heel and lateral portion; continuing knitting a rear sole portion; continuing knitting a front sole portion; continuing knitting a toe cap portion; and continuing knitting a tongue portion. When the knitting comes to the first connecting selvage edges at the two sides of the rear sole portion, the first connecting selvage edges can be knitted together with the lateral live stitches in the heel and lateral portion, so that the heel and lateral portion can be combined with the rear sole portion. Also, when the knitting comes to the second connecting selvage edges at the two sides of the toe cap portion, the second connecting selvage edges can be knitted together with the latitudinal live stitches in the front sole portion, so that the toe cap portion can be combined with the front sole portion.

The disclosure discloses a method of whole garment knitting in horizontal direction along the back center, and belongs to the technical field of knitted fabrics. The method can be used for directly knitting an integrally shaped left piece and right piece, wherein a sleeve, a front body, a back body, a front placket, a lapel and a lapel collar of the left piece or the right piece are all integrally shaped, and can be directly sewn at back center lines and collar center lines through a looper to form a fully-shaped upper garment including plackets and a collar portion. According to the solution, the knitting process is simple, manual or single yarn lifting sewing is not needed, and the garment knitting efficiency is improved. Moreover, the lapel collar and the plackets of the fabric knitted according to the solution are all of double-side double-layer structures, so that the thickness and stiffness are greater than those of the body; and the single yarn lifting sewing at the left side seams, right side seams and armholes is not needed, so that the texture of the fabric is improved.

Systems and methods for manufacturing knitted shoe uppers. An article of fully finished three-dimensionally weft knitted footwear is manufactured through a knitting process which can be performed by an automated V-bed flat knitting machine. The knitting process includes manipulating one or more double-knit stitch types and joining the stitches exclusively in the knitting process to create a seamless upper to fit a foot. A resulting upper advantageously has no sewn seams and requires no manual post process to cut or sew the upper to create the dimensional shape. The process creates a seamless, full gauge, dimensionally stable footwear upper, as a unitary textile construction with an integrated anatomically appropriate heel. The entire upper, including the closure element of the upper, may be completed exclusively by the knitting machine, ready for the following shoe making process.

A knitted component may include a first portion, where the first portion at least partially forms an underfoot area of an article of footwear. A second portion may be included, where the second portion at least partially forms an outer surface of a medial or a lateral side of an article of footwear. A forward portion may extend from an end of the first portion and may include a toebox area in a toe region of the knitted component. A knitted connection structure may be located between the toebox area of the forward portion and the second portion, where the second portion includes a first course, where the toebox area of the second portion includes a second course, and where the first course is secured to the second course through the knitted connection structure.

A knitted component may have a first portion, where the first portion has a first layer and a second layer, and where the first layer and the second layer each have opposite-facing surfaces. The first layer and the second layer may be secured via at least one knit structure of the knitted component at a boundary of the first portion. The first layer may form at least one of: (a) an overfoot portion of an article of footwear such that the pocket forms a void of the article of footwear for receiving a foot and such that the first layer forms a top surface of the void, and (b) an underfoot portion of the article of footwear such that the first layer forms a bottom surface of the void of the article of footwear.

A 3D shoe blank is an integral knit fabric without any sewn portion made by a flat knitting machine and includes an upper portion knitted from at least a yarn, a front sole portion knitted from the upper portion with a folding line therebetween and two connection lines at two sides of the front sole portion and the upper portion, so the front sole portion is folded and connected to the upper portion to form a pocket structure, a rear portion knitted from the front sole portion, and a heel portion extending from a center rear end of the rear portion, two opposite sides of the heel portion respectively connected to a left rear end and a right rear end of the rear portion to form a 3D rear shoe portion with two joining lines between the heel portion and the rear portion on the two opposite sides.

Provided is a knitting method of a bag-shaped knitted fabric that can make a setup portion inconspicuous in knitting a bag-shaped knitted fabric from a closed end region in which a tube diameter changes. A knitting method of a bag-shaped knitted fabric for knitting a bag-shaped knitted fabric including a closed end region and a remaining part other than the closed end region, including: a step A of forming a setup portion in which a knitting yarn is alternately held on a front needle bed and a back needle bed; a step B of forming the closed end region by repeating, sequentially from one end side in a knitting width direction of the setup portion toward another end side thereof, C-shaped knitting in which the one end side serves as a turn back side; and a step C of knitting the remaining part of the bag-shaped knitted fabric, following a termination in a wale direction of the closed end region. In the step B, when repeating the C-shaped knitting, a portion on the front needle bed side of the setup portion and a portion on the back needle bed side of the setup portion are connected directly or indirectly, and a knitting width of the C-shaped knitting is changed.

A three-dimensional knitted fabric with a large-diameter circular knitting machine is knitted with a plurality of stitches that form a plurality of stitch courses oriented in each case in a stitch-course direction of the knitted fabric and a plurality of stitch wales oriented in each case in a stitch-wale direction of the knitted fabric, wherein at least one of the stitches is in the form of at least one corrugation-forming stitch, which extends in the stitch-wale direction over a plurality of stitch courses and binds at least one corrugation in the knitted fabric.

A compression article and method for its production on a flat-bed knitting machine are provided for providing an improved fit to a body part. In the compression article, respectively the number of stitches per stitch row is matched to the radial circumference of the body part to be treated by the compression article. The compression article has a plurality of points which are distributed over its circumference and at which, in a stitch row, at least one of a stitch increase and a stitch reduction is realized. The number of stitches in the wale direction varies over the circumference of the compression article and is matched, in the longitudinal direction of the body part, to the shape of the body part to be treated.