A shoe includes a knit upper and a sole secured to the knit upper. The knit upper is formed with a first type of knit structure knitted with a thermoplastic yarn in a first area. The first area is in at least the toe region of the knit upper. In a second area including at least the medial and lateral metatarsal regions of the knit upper, the knit upper is formed with a second type of knit structure knitted with a second yarn having a higher melting temperature than the thermoplastic yarn. A rear boundary line of the first area and a forward boundary line of the second area define a boundary line between the first and second areas.

An article of footwear may include a sole assembly and an upper, positioned above the sole assembly, formed from a stretchable material such as a stretchable canvas. The upper may include stitching, with a stretchability of the stretchable canvas being maintained in an area of the upper where the stitching extends. The stitching may include, for example, double needle cover stitching.

A last for forming an upper of an article of footwear includes an exterior surface, where the exterior surface includes a plurality of three dimensional structural surface components disposed over at least 50% of the exterior surface of the last.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a knitted component for use in an article of footwear may include a first layer with a multi-bed first area having a first surface and an opposite facing second surface. The knitted component may include a second layer with a second area overlapping the first area. The second area may have a first surface and an opposite facing second surface. The knitted component may include a plurality of interlayer knit stitches interlooping at least one yarn of the first layer with at least one yarn of the second layer at an interface between the second surfaces of the first and second areas. The interior surfaces of the first area and the second area may define at least part of a freely separable area between the first and second areas.

The machine for making a shoe upper comprises a reel holder rack, a dial and a sinker crown, a needle cylinder with a vertical axis and forward and backward movement having a plurality of grooves, inside of which the needles are slidable, controlled by selection thereof, a cup element, at least four feeders assembled along the circumference of the machine, guide, first brake, first recovery means for recovering each of the threads to be fed to said needles for forming the upper and a suction bell for unloading said upper, said selection of said needles comprising a pre-selection cam defining a working path and a non-working path of the heels of the elastic jacks of the corresponding needles and sub-needles of said cylinder and a lifting cam defining a first path executing working stitches and a second lowered path with respect to the first path executing tuck stitches.

A method of manufacturing an article may include positioning a first textile sheet against a second textile sheet and reciprocating a single needle of an embroidery machine through the first textile sheet and the second textile sheet, the needle forcing fibers of the second textile sheet through the first textile sheet. The fibers may have terminal ends extending outward of an exterior side of the first textile sheet through which the fibers are forced. A method may include forcing fibers from a second side to an opposite side of a single textile sheet to create a pattern of the fibers on the opposite side. Various articles such as footwear uppers may be manufactured according to the method.

A method of manufacturing an article may include loading a soluble bobbin thread into an embroidery machine and then driving a needle thread through a base sheet with a needle of the embroidery machine according to a programmed first pattern that provides a series of loops of the needle thread extending outward from a bobbin side of the base sheet. The method may further include bonding the needle thread to a needle side of the base sheet opposite from the bobbin side. A spacer layer may be disposed at the bobbin side of the base sheet, and may be removed after the needle thread is bonded to the base sheet. The loops may be loops of a hook-and-loop fastener or ball control features in various articles manufactured according to the method.

An article of footwear includes a sole structure and an upper secured to the sole structure. The upper is configured to receive a foot of a wearer and has a peripheral region. Further, the upper includes a ribbon structure formed of a plurality of ribbon sections, and a plurality of ribbon loops extending from a peripheral region of the upper.

Presented are automated manufacturing systems for fabricating engineered textiles, footwear and apparel formed with such engineered textiles, methods for making such engineered textiles, and memory-stored, processor-executable instructions for operating such manufacturing systems. An automated manufacturing system constructs engineered textiles from workpieces composed of superposed, unwoven wires. The system includes a movable end effector bearing a stitching head and an image capture device. The stitching head has a thread feeder and sewing needle to generate stitches. The image capture device captures images of the workpiece and outputs data indicative thereof. A system controller receives this image capture device data and locates, from the captured image of the workpiece, gaps defined between quadrangles of the superposed wires. The controller commands the end effector to sequentially move the stitching head and thereby align the sewing needle with the gaps, and commands the stitching head to insert a succession of stitches within these gaps.

A process for manufacturing a waterproof and vapor-permeable shoe is provided. In the process, an adhesive layer is provided on a knitted fabric to form a laminate, and a shoe upper unit is formed from the laminate, and has an adhesive component defining an inner space of the shoe upper unit. A shoe lining member, which is worn on a last, is placed into the shoe upper unit to permit a knitted component of the shoe upper unit to be bonded to the shoe lining member through the adhesive component under a heating treatment.