Footwear articles for walking are provided. In one example, a footwear article may include a midsole with a lower surface of constant curvature extending from a heel of the midsole to a toe of the midsole, wherein the lower surface maintains the constant curvature throughout a stance phase of a walking gait. In this way, a smooth step-to-step transition and a smaller range of oscillation of the center of mass of the wearer is achieved, and energy expenditure during walking is reduced. In turn, a wearer of the footwear article may smoothly walk for extended periods of time with reduced fatigue.

The present invention is related to a shoe, the shoe including: a first outsole comprising a bottom portion which contacts the ground, and a plurality of first protruding portions each of which has a dome shape and protrudes upward from the bottom portion, and a second outsole comprising a support portion disposed on the bottom portion, and a plurality of second protruding portions each of which has a dome shape and protrudes downward from the support portion. Protruding end portions of the plurality of second protruding portions are bonded to protruding end portions of the plurality of first protruding portions, respectively.

An article of footwear with a traction system. The traction system includes a plurality of traction elements of various heights on the outsole that undergo rotation within the penetrated substratum while avoiding damage from digging the surface while walking. The plurality of traction elements has a shortened height at pivot points of a foot and a lengthened height away from the pivot points of the foot.

An article of footwear includes an upper and a sole structure coupled with the upper. The sole structure includes a midsole that is coupled to the upper along an upper surface of the midsole and to an outsole along a lower surface that is opposite the upper surface. Both the upper surface and the lower surface are curved along a width of the sole structure to curve away from the upper and toward the outsole within a forefoot region, thus forming a rounded surface that extends throughout the forefoot region. A stiffening member is coupled to the midsole and extends from a heel end toward a toe end. The stiffening member includes a base disposed within at least a midfoot region and a plurality of tines that extend into the forefoot region from the base.

Disclosed is a sole for a running shoe having a midsole (1), the midsole (1) having a soft-elastic top layer (2) and a soft-elastic bottom layer (3), a flexurally elastic incompressible plate (4) being arranged in the vertical direction (V) between the top layer (2) and the bottom layer (3), and the bottom layer (3) having a plurality of channels (31a, 31a, 31b, 31c) extending in the transverse direction (Q), the channels (31a, 31b, 31c) of the bottom layer (3) being deformable vertically (V) and/or horizontally in the longitudinal direction (L) under the action of forces acting vertically (V) and/or in the longitudinal direction (L) and occurring during running.

A sole for a shoe includes a sole body extending longitudinally from a heel portion to a toe portion and a curved plate provided at the sole body and extending longitudinally along the sole body. A compressive rigidity of the sole body is lowest at a metatarsophalangeal joint position. The sole body includes a sole forefoot top part disposed above the curved plate at the forefoot portion and a sole forefoot bottom part disposed below the curved plate at the forefoot portion. The compressive rigidity of the sole body is relatively low at the sole forefoot bottom part.

A sole reference posture is determined such that a straight reference line connects a toe-tip position and a rearmost end position of a sole top surface, a path length measured along the sole top surface from the origin of the rearmost end position to the toe-tip position is L, an intersection point of a sole bottom surface and a line crossing a position of 0.45×L and orthogonal to the reference line is position C, and the sole is in contact with the ground at position C. In the reference posture, the sole bottom surface is separated from the ground at a heel portion and a toe portion, and an inequality θ≥5 is satisfied, wherein θ is an angle between a straight line connecting a heel central position of 0.15×L with a metatarsophalangeal joints position of 0.68×L and the ground.

Implementations disclosed herein provide for shoes including one or more wave cushions that provide temporary storage of the shoes’ impact energy with the ground and return of a portion of that energy to enhance a runner’s running economy. The wave cushions may include a pair of foundation layers, each with an engagement surface and a sinusoidal sectional profile. The sinusoidal sectional profiles are phase offset, and the elastic membrane is oriented between the engagement surfaces. The engagement surfaces together act as alternating matched pairs of actuators and cavities. Each actuator stretches a portion of the elastic membrane into a cavity when a runner’s weight is applied, converting the runner’s kinetic energy to potential energy stored in the stretched and deformed elastic membrane. As the runner’s weight is removed, the elastic membrane springs back into a substantially planar orientation, transferring the stored potential energy back to the runner as kinetic energy.

Footwear articles for walking are provided. In one example, a footwear article may include a midsole with a lower surface of constant curvature extending from a heel of the midsole to a toe of the midsole, wherein the lower surface maintains the constant curvature throughout a stance phase of a walking gait. In this way, a smooth step-to-step transition and a smaller range of oscillation of the center of mass of the wearer is achieved, and energy expenditure during walking is reduced. In turn, a wearer of the footwear article may smoothly walk for extended periods of time with reduced fatigue.

An article of footwear comprising a sole structure and an upper. The sole structure includes an outsole that defines a ground engaging surface in at least a forefoot region of the sole structure, and the outsole includes at least one first ground engaging element that extends away from the ground engaging surface. The sole structure further includes a cushioning member that extends between the outsole and the upper, and the cushioning member is a supercritical foam with pockets of gas therein.