A tensile strand element for an article of footwear is disclosed. The tensile strand element includes one or more tensile strands secured at their endpoints between the sole and upper of an article of footwear, creating one or more looped portions. The unsecured looped portions may extend into the fastening region of the footwear and engage with a fastening system to tighten the footwear upper snugly against a wearer's foot to provide added support.

An upper for an article of footwear includes a spray formed first layer including a first material, and a second layer including a second material, the second layer being adhered to the first layer. A transition zone is defined at a transition between the first layer and the second layer, and the transition zone includes a mixture of the first and second materials.

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.

A method of forming an upper for an article of footwear includes providing a first material layer over a shoe last, providing a second material layer over the first material layer such that the first and second material layers adhere to each other at an interface between the first and second material layers, where one or both of the first material layer and second material layer is provided by spray forming a polymer material onto the last. The material layers are removed from the last and turned inside out such that the first material layer includes an exposed surface that forms an exterior surface of the upper.

Footwear includes an inner knitted fabric (5) and an outer knitted fabric (4) that are connected by a stitch row at a top line (6). In the footwear, wale directions of the inner knitted fabric and the outer knitted fabric are different, and/or, the outer knitted fabric is provided with a portion made of a knitted structure (50) with holes, and the inner knitted fabric arranged on the inner side of that portion is made of a knitted structure (60) whose stretchability is lower than that of another portion of the inner knitted fabric. A difference in stretchability between the vertical and horizontal directions of the footwear provided with a double layer knitted fabric is reduced, or a difference in stretchability depending on the position in the footwear is reduced.

The invention provides a method of assembling a shoe including a printed design for providing flat material having a first designated area and a second designated area, printing a first portion of the design on the first designated area and printing a second portion of the design on the second designated area, separating the designated areas into individual panels and assembling each panel, so that the first portion of the design joins the second portion of the design when each panel is arranged side by side to form an uninterrupted and complete design.

Provided is a knitted fabric in which a first knitted fabric portion and a second knitted fabric portion that overlap each other in the thickness direction are joined to each other so as to be easily rotated about a joint position of the two knitted fabric portions, which serves as a rotation axis. The knitted fabric includes: a passage location (7) at which stitches (4a to 4d) of the n-th knitting course (4A) of the second knitted fabric portion (4) are passed through gaps between stitches in the first knitted fabric portion (2) from one surface side to the other surface side, so that the up and down positions in the thickness direction of the first knitted fabric portion (2) and the second knitted fabric portion (4) are reversed with respect to each other. Furthermore, a terminal portion (4y) of the second knitted fabric portion (4) is subjected to an unravel treatment in the vicinity of the passage location at which the second knitted fabric portion (4) is passed through the first knitted fabric portion (2), so that the first knitted fabric portion (2) and the second knitted fabric portion (4) are joined to each other at the passage location (7) . Here, the gaps are each surrounded by two adjacent stitches (2a and 2b through 2d and 2e) in the m-th knitting course (2A) of the first knitted fabric portion (2), a sinker loop that connects the adjacent stitches, and a sinker loop in the (m+1)-th knitting course (2B).

Systems and methods for manufacturing a garment, include: receiving garment design input data for a garment design including data representing a first textile structural unit at a first location and data representing a second textile structural unit at a second location; generating a textile production machine instruction data set based on the garment design input data; forming a first garment using a first textile production machine to include the first textile structural unit and the second textile structural unit; creating revised garment design input data for the garment design based on the first garment based on receiving additional body map data relating to the first garment; generating revised textile production machine instruction data set based on the revised garment design input data; and forming a second garment using a textile production machine and the revised garment design input data including the changes to the garment design.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a knitted component for use in an article of footwear may include a first knitted layer and a second knitted layer at least partially overlapping the first knitted layer. The knitted component may also include an interlooped area comprising the first knitted layer interlooped with the second knitted layer and a knitted loop structure that is adjacent the interlooped area and that comprises the first knitted layer freely separable from the second knitted layer to comprise a passageway. The first knitted layer has a first edge comprising a first opening of the passageway and a second edge comprising a second opening of the passageway. Each of the first edge and the second edge extend in a course-wise direction and the passageway extends between the first opening and the second opening in a wale-wise direction.

Hot melt sequins and methods of applying these sequins are disclosed. The sequins may be stitched to a layer of an article in a pattern to form a relatively rigid structure. The sequins may be made of a hotmelt material and melted to form a continuous structure. The sequins may be located along a lacing region and used as eyelets to secure laces.