Footwear for covering a foot of a wearer includes an outsole configured for supporting the foot of the wearer, an upper secured to the outsole and configured for covering the foot of the wearer, an insole located above the outsole within the upper, a midsole located above the outsole and below the insole and first and second laterally adjacent shanks located above the outsole and below the insole. The first shank angles forward and outward from the heel portion to a lateral side of the middle portion and the second shank angles forward and outward from the heel portion to a medial side of the middle portion to form an acute angle therebetween and provide balance and torsional stability for sides of the wearer's foot

Boot shafts can be designed for comfort by providing expansion in the shaft of a boot. Portions of a shaft can be replaced, augmented, or associated with a more deformable and elastically resilient material or materials. When effectively associated or integrated, the elastic material can allow for temporary expansion of the shaft to ease passage of the heel and foot through the shaft and into the shoe box. A long thin resilient feature can provide expansion and ease of passage of a foot down the boot shaft while also potentially minimizing conspicuous departure from conventional stylings. Such features can also be physically obscured with straps (which may rotate, for example). Such features may be curved or angled to visually in fit with and even be camouflaged by surrounding decorative ornamentation on the shaft of such a boot. Boots and their insoles can also include air passages to enhance cooling and comfort and facilitate air movement to cool the foot and/or leg of a wearer. Boots can further allow resilient features and or openings spanned by resilient materials, where such openings do not extend below a waterproof line.

Various articles, such as footwear, apparel, athletic equipment, watchbands, and the like, and methods of forming those articles are presented. The articles are generally formed, in whole or in part, using rapid manufacturing techniques, such as laser sintering, stereolithography, solid deposition modeling, and the like. The use of rapid manufacturing allows for relatively economical and time efficient manufacture of customized articles. Portions of the articles may be manufactured using rapid manufacturing and those portions may be joined with portions formed using conventional, non-rapid manufacturing techniques. The methods may also include performing a scan of an appropriate body part of a user, such as a foot, in order to create a customized article of footwear for the user.

A biocomposite material and methods and systems for forming a biocomposite material are provided. In one example, a biocomposite material includes a biopolymer material and an internal structure imparting zonal properties to the biocomposite material, where the biopolymer material at least partially surrounds and/or extends through the internal structure. The biopolymer material includes mycelium grown from a fungal strain.

A shoe includes a sole, an upper, and a welt. The sole and upper define a seam. The welt overlies the seam. The sole includes flex grooves. The upper includes perforations. The welt includes flex slits.

An article of footwear has an upper and a heel system. The heel system may include a heel cage secured to a heel portion of the upper, and a heel counter. The heel counter may extend along the rear of the heel portion to an upper extent above the upper bar.

The invention is an article of footwear comprising a waterproof upper (30) material having a breathability of less than 3 mg/cm<2>/h according to ISO (11092, 14268) 14268 (2012). The upper (30) material comprising at least one vent having a vent assembly (31) disposed within the at least one vent. The vent assembly (31) further comprises a waterproof, water vapor permeable functional layer (38) and a plurality of slats (32) disposed adjacent to the functional layer (38) and spaced apart from each other and from the functional layer (38) to provide for water-vapor flow through the vent assembly (31).

The invention is a high heel shoe with an upper that will provide comfort and flexibility for the wearer. In a preferred embodiment the upper consists of two at least two materials: 1) a firm fabric, such as leather, that will hold the shape of the design and have limited flexibility; 2) a flat knitted elastic, such as knit elastic, which will not narrow, or not narrow significantly, when stretched. In addition, the firm fabric is configured to have a flex-point and in a preferred embodiment is formed of two pieces of the firm material having a split between them providing the desired flex-point.

Various articles, such as footwear, apparel, athletic equipment, watchbands, and the like, and methods of forming those articles are presented. The articles are generally formed, in whole or in part, using rapid manufacturing techniques, such as laser sintering, stereolithography, solid deposition modeling, and the like. The use of rapid manufacturing allows for relatively economical and time efficient manufacture of customized articles. Portions of the articles may be manufactured using rapid manufacturing and those portions may be joined with portions formed using conventional, non-rapid manufacturing techniques. The methods may also include performing a scan of an appropriate body part of a user, such as a foot, in order to create a customized article of footwear for the user.

An article of footwear may have an upper and a sole structure secured to the upper. The sole structure has a plurality of support elements, and each of the support elements include a shell and a core. The shell defines an interior void and is formed from a polymer material that extends around substantially all of the void. The core has a shape of the void and is located within the void, with at least a portion of the core being a polymer foam material. The polymer foam material of at least two of the support elements may have different densities.