The invention relates to the use of at least one impact modifier having a refractive index IR.sub.1 in a polyamide matrix consisting of a mixture of amorphous polyamide and semicrystalline polyamide, said matrix having a refractive index IR2, the difference in absolute value of IR.sub.1-IR.sub.2 not exceeding 0.006, to produce a transparent composition having a fatigue strength, under the fatigue test referred to as notched “Ross-Flex”, greater than 50 000 at −10° C.

An article of footwear includes an upper, a heel element, a sole structure, a medial side, and a lateral side. The upper includes an outer surface that defines a forefoot region, a midfoot region, and a heel region. The upper includes a membrane layer and a material layer. The material layer includes a knit fabric and defines a first knit zone and a second knit zone. The first knit zone has a tighter knit than the second knit zone.

Presented are manufacturing systems, methods, and devices for forming footwear using scrap or waste plastic materials. A method for manufacturing an article of footwear, such as an athletic shoe, begins with receiving a batch of recycled plastic, which may include thermoplastic elastomers or ethylene-vinyl acetate, and grinding the batch of recycled plastic material. The ground recycled material is processed, for example, by adding a foaming agent that activates at elevated temperatures. The processed recycled material is placed into the internal cavity of a final mold that is shaped like a segment of the footwear, such as a unitary sole structure. To form the footwear segment, the processed recycled material is heated past the threshold activation temperature of the foaming agent such that the foaming agent causes the recycled material to expand and fill the internal cavity of the final mold. The formed footwear segment is then extracted from the mold.

One or more aspects of the present disclosure provide articles of manufacture and components of articles that incorporate an optical element that imparts structural color to the component or the article. The component comprises a cured or curable material, and can include or be made to have a textured surface.

An injection molded integral multicolor thermoplastic elastomeric foamed sole, comprising an integral sole made from thermoplastic elastomeric foaming bodies of at least two colors, and on surfaces thereof are provided grains of arbitrarily superposed injection strips; the foamed sole is made by: mixing, milling and heating thermoplastic elastomer raw materials of at least two colors, lubricants, and foaming auxiliaries to be thermoplastic elastomeric fused-masses, adding respectively gas-foaming agents at 0.2%-10% of thermoplastic elastomeric raw materials, compressive injecting gas-foaming agents respectively into thermoplastic elastomeric fused-masses, fully mixing to form thermoplastic elastomeric gas foamed polymers, and extruding foaming strips of thermoplastic elastomeric gas polymers of the at least two colors with an extrusion and injection process and/or co-extruding the foaming strips of thermoplastic elastomeric gas polymers of the at least two colors by a co-extrusion process into molds to form arbitrarily superposed strips, clamp molds, discharge gas and form.

A method of manufacturing a shoe upper according to the present invention includes: three-dimensionally forming an upper member; pre-heating the upper member such that a portion-to-be-reinforced of the three-dimensionally formed upper member is heated to a temperature equal to or higher than a melting point of thermoplastic resin powder; adhering the thermoplastic resin powder to the upper member so as to at least cover the portion-to-be-reinforced of the pre-heated upper member; further heating the upper member to which the thermoplastic resin powder is adhered and melting the thermoplastic resin powder adhered to the upper member; and hardening the melted thermoplastic resin powder to firmly adhere the reinforcing portion to the upper member.

As described above, one or more aspects of the present disclosure provide articles having structural color, and methods of making articles having structural color. The article includes the optical element (e.g., a single layer reflector, a single layer filter, a multilayer reflector or a multilayer filter) including one or more layers (e.g., a reflective layer(s), a constituent layer(s), and the like). The surface of the article can include the optical element with regions that impart different structural colors. The different structural colors imparted are due at least in part to the different structure (e.g., cross-sectional structure) of the optical element in certain regions.

As described above, one or more aspects of the present disclosure provide articles having structural color, and methods of making articles having structural color. The present disclosure provides for articles that exhibit structural colors through the use of an optical element having one or more layers. The optical element includes at least a first section and a second section. The first section imparts a first structural color and the second section imparts a second structural color. The first structural color and the second structural color differ from each other when viewed from the same angle of observation.

The present invention relates to a footwear customization device or accessory that converts footwear to many different styles and colors. The device or accessory includes an add-on device for existing footwear, and is in the form of a footwear topper device. The device can be secured around the ankle of a wearer and around the shank of the footwear under the outsole. The straps of the device are secured around the bottom of the outsole near the shank or heel portion, and wrap around the ankle of a wearer for securing to the footwear. The device enables an adjustable fastening mechanism that allows the footwear to be kept effectively secured to the feet while providing customization to the upper portion of the footwear.

An article of footwear may be constructed of a matrix of beads. For example, by preconfiguring the row length and the number of beads in a given row, the bead matrix may be configured to form a three dimensional shape that pulls towards a centerline or is concave.