An article of footwear and a knitted component thereof are provided. The article of footwear includes a shoe upper and a sole structure fixed to the shoe upper. The shoe upper defines a shoe cavity for a foot to be inserted thereinto. The shoe upper is formed by the knitted component and includes a plurality of upper regions. The knitted component is a two-dimensional structure knitted from at least one yarn and includes a plurality of knitted regions respectively corresponding to the plurality of upper regions. Each of the plurality of upper regions has a stretch ratio to its corresponding knitted region of the plurality of knitted regions. The number of stitches in each of the plurality of knitted regions is proportional to its corresponding stretch ratio, so when the foot is inserted into the shoe cavity, courses and wales formed by the at least one yarn in the plurality of upper regions are substantially orthogonal.

A needle assembly for a stitching machine comprises a stitching jig comprising a needle holder, a needle clamp hoop and a fixing jig. The needle holder has needle sockets to hold a plurality of needles. The needle clamp hoop is connected to the needle holder to retain needles in the sockets. The fixing jig is connected to the needle clamp hoop to couple with a reciprocating bar of the stitching machine. A method for manufacturing an article of footwear upper comprises laying out a first sheet of material; positioning a second sheet of material to overlap with the first sheet of material at an overlap; positioning a felt material adjacent the overlap so that the second sheet of material is between the first sheet of material and the felt material; and felting the felt material to draw fibers of the felt material through the first and second sheets of material.

Multiple shoe types are made from a plurality of generic molded base frames including a midsole and at least one upper portion integrally molded together. A first set of upper components is provided for forming a first shoe type secured to a first portion of the base frames and a second set of upper components is provided for forming a second shoe type secured to a second portion of the base frames. The upper portion that is integrally molded with the midsole may be a forefoot panel or a quarter. The various types formed from the generic frame include sneakers, backless shoes, slip-ons, skate shoes and boots. The generic unitary molded frame construction substantially reduces the cost of manufacture.

A non-transient computer-readable medium can contain instructions for causing a computing system to perform the method of selecting a base footwear structure, the base footwear structure including an upper that is configured to be coupled to a sole structure, retrieving a model of an article of footwear that can be formed from the selected base footwear structure, selecting one or more design elements from a plurality of available design elements associated with the model, updating the model based on the one or more selected design elements, and generating the article of footwear from the updated model. In some examples, the one or more design elements are design elements that can be added to or modified on the base footwear structure to form the article of footwear.

Advances in actuating fabrics could enable a paradigm shift in the field of smart wearables by dynamically fitting themselves to the unique topography of the human body. Active fabrics and fitting mechanisms are described herein that enable garments to conform around surface concavities without requiring high elasticity or a multiplicity of closure devices. Advanced materials and systems innovations (1) enable novel garment manufacturing and application strategies, (2) facilitate topographical fitting (spatial actuation) through garment architectural design, and (3) provide tunable NiTi-based SMA actuation temperatures to enable actuation on the surface of human skin. Such fabrics and garments are usable in a variety of fields including medical compression, technical sportswear, exosuits, space suits and components thereof, or non-garment applications.

An article of footwear includes an upper and a strobel stitched to the upper at a series of stitches disposed in stitch holes that extend through the strobel. The strobel and the upper define a foot-receiving cavity with an inner surface of the strobel disposed at the foot-receiving cavity. A midsole is secured to the upper and an outer surface of the strobel is disposed at the midsole. The stitch holes are obstructed such that the stitch holes are not exposed to both the midsole and the foot-receiving cavity. Accordingly, when a flowable polymeric material is injected in a mold cavity to form the midsole with the lower portion of the upper and the strobel in the mold cavity, the stitch holes will not provide a path for entry of the flowable polymeric material into the foot-receiving cavity. A method of manufacturing an article of footwear is disclosed.

An article of footwear is formed with an upper including a ribbon structure. Ribbon elements can be laid down in straight and winding sections, and the ribbon elements can be stitched or attached to a backing layer. A periphery of the ribbon structure can be embroidered to tack down any raised portions of the ribbon at the periphery.

An article of footwear may include an upper incorporating a knitted component. An inlaid strand extends through the knitted component. A combination feeder may be utilized to inlay the strand within the knitted component. As an example, the combination feeder may include a feeder arm that reciprocates between a retracted position and an extended position. In manufacturing the knitted component, the feeder inlays the strand when the feeder arm is in the extended position, and the strand is absent from the knitted component when the feeder arm is in the retracted position.

An article of footwear may have an upper with a knitted component. Alone or in combination, the knitted component may include regions with different degrees of stretch-resistance; the knitted component forms a collar with a half-gauge knit; the upper includes a strand with sections that are inlaid within the knitted component, and the sections are positioned immediately adjacent to each other; the strand forms a plurality of loops, pairs of the loops are positioned immediately adjacent to each other and configured to receive a lace; and the knitted component includes a thermoplastic polymer material, and the strand is unbonded to the thermoplastic polymer material.

An upper for a shoe, in particular a sports shoe, includes at least one tape covering at least 50% of the upper. At least one tape portion includes a plurality of connected tapes. A further aspect relates to an upper for a shoe, in particular a sports shoe, including at least one tape portion including a plurality of connected tapes. In some connected tapes, the tapes are zig-zag stitched to each other on their edges.