Methods and systems are provided for forming a molded foam article. An example method may include molding a plurality of separate pieces of closed-cell foam by exposure to a temperature cycle within a sealed mold to soften the plurality of pieces sufficiently for physical bonding; and forming a molded foam article with the pieces bonded together without an adhesive, wherein, during the temperature cycle, the mold is unsealed at least once to release gases and/or pressure. In another example, a method includes exposing a filled, sealed mold filled with a plurality of pieces of foamed material to a heating cycle; at a threshold temperature, unsealing the filled, sealed mold until a pressure reduces to within a threshold of atmospheric pressure; and, following the unsealing, cooling the filled mold prior to removing a molded foam article.

Process for obtaining ecological footwear using recycled or waste organic materials for the production thereof, particularly materials such as sargassum, coffee waste, and agave bagasse and using solvent-free water-based adhesives, therefore friendly to atmosphere. The process includes assembling the footwear with woven fabrics and non-woven polyester fabrics obtained from fibers that are produced with bottle flakes and postindustrial recycled material of the same polymer, in addition to including the thread and laces made with filaments obtained from the same recycled nature, and incorporating the sole and details with a percentage of recycled polyester plastic bottles, sargassum, coffee waste, and pulverized agave gabazo used as an inert load, so the footwear presented has a recycled polyester content, Sargassum, coffee residues and agave gabazo between 5 and 90% in weigh.

Disclosed herein is a process for making a shoe using a stand-alone mouldable nonwoven fabric which has the ability of self-sustaining and shape maintenance and which is heated to become softened till molten. In the process of the invention, the shoe parts are moulded by a compression moulding process and the moulded parts are then heated and welded together by a plastic welding method.

The present invention relates to a midsole material composition, a method for producing the midsole material and a shoe sole. The midsole material composition comprises an elastomer, a thermoplastic polymer, a suitable crosslinker and a catalyst, such that the midsole material of the present invention can be fabricated by subjecting the midsole material composition to a phase-inversion crosslinking reaction and a foaming process. The aforementioned thermoplastic polymer, which is a recyclable material, is inverted into a continuous phase after the phase-inversion crosslinking reaction, thereby enhancing a recycling property of the midsole material and improving a reusability of the shoe sole.

An environmentally friendly shoe material and method of manufacturing the same is disclosed, wherein the method includes: mixing scraps and a foaming material to provide a shoe material mixture, the scraps including bottle scraps formed by crushing plastic bottles; putting the shoe material mixture into a mold and compression molding the shoe material mixture into the environmentally friendly shoe material; and separating the environmentally friendly shoe material from the mold. In this way, the environmentally friendly shoe material may not only maintain its due function, but also take environmental protection into account.

In example aspects, materials are repurposed for footwear manufacturing. That is, in some instances, materials in the footwear manufacturing supply chain are potentially subject to disposal. However, aspects of this disclosure sustainably repurpose those materials (that might otherwise be disposed of) to be used in footwear articles. In some aspects, the repurposed materials may be obscured with a concealing layer.

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.

Physical foaming a footwear component with a single-phase solution of a polymeric composition and a supercritical fluid is provided. The method include temperature conditioning a mold and then engaging the mold with a robot that conveys the mold to a press. At the press a gas counter pressure is applied to a cavity of the mold before injecting a single-phase solution of a polymeric composition and a supercritical fluid into the cavity of the mold. The process continues with releasing the gas counter pressure from the cavity of the mold and then removing the footwear component from the cavity of the mold. The parameters of the method are configured for the formation of the footwear component in an automated manner.

An upper for an article of footwear is configured to be connected to a sole structure and is configured to receive a foot. The upper includes a knitted component having a strobel portion that is configured to be disposed underneath the foot. The strobel portion defines an interior surface and an exterior surface of the knitted component. The strobel portion defines a strobel passage between the interior surface and the exterior surface. Also, the upper includes a tensile strand that extends through the strobel passage.

A decentralized private blockchains network is provided. In some implementations, the system performs operations comprising receiving, at a client system, data having a sensitivity level, the operations further comprise splitting, at the client system, the data based on the sensitivity level, the splitting comprising splitting the data into data portions. The operations further comprise storing, at a decentralized storage system, the decentralized storage system comprising a plurality of private blockchains, each of the data portions in a separate private blockchain of the plurality of private blockchains. The operations further comprise storing, at a multi-decentralized private blockchains network (MDPBN), pointers to locations of the data portions within the decentralized storage system. Related systems, methods, and articles of manufacture are also described.