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.

An embroidered vamp process includes the following steps: (1) designing a vamp manufacture drawing by a computer; (2) according to the design drawing of step (1), cutting different pieces of cloth into base fabric of the vamp and a splice component of the vamp respectively by a laser; (3) typesetting the splice component cut in step (2) on the base fabric, then embroidering the splice component on the base fabric according to an embroidery thread pattern of the drawing by an embroidery machine; (4) cutting out the redundant base fabric of the vamp along the edge the splice component by, once again, the laser, forming the vamp of the finished product shoe model. An embroidered vamp comprises a vamp body, said vamp body comprising the base fabric and the splice component, said splice component being embroidered on the surface of base fabric by embroidery thread.

A shoe body-forming piece includes an upper portion including an instep portion and a pair of heel portions separately disposed on one side of the instep portion to make the upper portion have a substantially U-shaped configuration outlined by a perimeter edge and an inner edge; and a shoe-sleeve portion having a connection side at least partially connected to the inner edge, wherein the upper portion and the shoe-sleeve portion are knitted from at least one yarn to form a unitary knit construction with a plurality of courses and wales, so that the shoe body-forming piece does not have any sewing portion as the knitting process is completed; when the shoe body-forming piece is processed to form a shoe body, the upper portion corresponds to a fore portion, a lateral portion, and a heel portion of a foot, and the shoe-sleeve portion corresponds to an ankle portion of the foot.

An article of footwear flat pattern with an integrated collar liner is provided. The flat pattern has a flat upper with a top surface forming an exterior of a dimensionally formed article of footwear and a bottom surface facing an internal cavity of the dimensionally formed article of footwear. The flat pattern also includes a collar liner that is coupled with the flat upper at an ankle opening. The collar liner has an interior surface and an opposite exterior surface. The exterior surface forms an exposed surface of the internal cavity of the dimensionally formed article and the interior surface faces the flat upper bottom surface within the internal cavity of the dimensionally formed article. However, the collar liner external surface faces the flat upper top surface at an ankle opening coupling location.

An article of footwear with an upper including a ribbon structure is disclosed. The ribbon structure comprises ribbon sections running in at least two different directions. Ribbon sections are connected at nodes. Between nodes portions of ribbon act like links joining the nodes. The links can be arranged in various geometries, including a rectangular grid and a triaxial grid. The ribbon structure may extend the entire length of the article of footwear, and may extend through a forefoot, midfoot and heel.

An article of footwear may include a knitted component formed of multiple knitted component portions. The knitted component includes a body portion and a heel portion. The body portion is formed of unitary knit construction and extends through a forefoot region, a midfoot region, and at least partially into a heel region of the article of footwear. The heel portion is formed of unitary knit construction and extends through the heel region and includes a cuff that defines a throat opening of the upper for receiving a foot. The body portion and the heel portion are joined along adjacent edges to form the knitted component. Knitting directions of the knitted component portions vary along the adjacent edges. An overlay element may also be provided to cover a seam attaching the adjacent edges of the knitted component portions.

A boot form for a hockey skate is made of multiple plastic materials having different hardness properties, or different flexural moduli, and is formed via an injection-molding process or another similar process. One or more of the plastic materials may be reinforced with fibers of glass, carbon, aramid, or another stiffening material to strengthen one or more regions of the boot form. For example, pellets of a first plastic material having a flexural modulus of approximately 190 MPa (e.g., a polyamide elastomer block amide) may be injected into a mold to form a softer upper region of the boot form. And pellets of a second plastic having a flexural modulus of approximately 20,000 MPa (e.g., a Nylon 12 with long glass fibers) may be injected into the mold to form a stiffer lower region of the boot form. Additional skate components may then be attached to the boot form.

An article of footwear may include an upper and a sole structure secured to the upper. The upper has a knitted component formed of unitary knit construction that includes at least one gore region located in a heel region of the article of footwear. The gore region provides a contoured configuration to the knitted component. In a method of manufacturing, a knitted component may include a first gore region and a plurality of second gore regions, with the first gore region being located in a heel area of the article of footwear and the second gore regions being located adjacent to the sole structure.

An article of footwear formed from a flat pattern. The article of footwear has a reduced seam construction to reduce manufacturing operations. A toe-end seam extending from a throat on a medial side of the article of footwear provides a seaming option. An acute-angle indentation on a lateral side of the throat allows the article of footwear to conform to a wearer's traditional foot. A heel-end seam having adjacent inner surfaces of medial and lateral portions of the upper may also be included to convert the flat pattern upper to a dimensional article of footwear that conforms to the wearer's traditional foot.

A blank of flexible sheet material used to form and article of footwear upper and an article of footwear having a sole attached to the upper. According to one embodiment the blank of flexible sheet material includes a main bottom portion having a front toe area, a rear heel area and opposed sides, said main bottom portion being in the general shape of a foot sole. A front strap portion having an elongated shape extends outward from one of the opposed sides of the main bottom portion near the front toe area and having a free end, and a pair of heel-strap flaps extend outward from opposite sides of the main bottom portion near the rear heel area and configured to form an enclosed heel portion and a rear strap of the shoe upper. According to another embodiment the front strap is formed separately from the main bottom portion and pair of heel-strap flaps.