A footwear article includes a hinged portion in a heel region that may be biased in various positions to increase or decrease a size of a foot-insertion opening. The hinged portion may be arranged in a first position, in which the hinged portion is more upright and is in position to cup a wearer's heel or Achilles region when the footwear article is worn. In addition, the hinged portion may be hingedly rotated downward or rearwardly (e.g., away from the foot-insertion opening) to a second position, which may increase a size of the foot-insertion opening and/or may change an angle along which a foot can pass through the foot-insertion opening when the footwear article is being donned or doffed. One or more elastic members may be attached to the hinged portion and to some other portion of the footwear article to bias the hinged portion.

An upper may be included with an article of footwear. The upper may include a textile portion, the textile portion forming a throat area of the upper. The upper may further include a base portion, the base portion extending to a biteline area of the upper. The upper may further include a tie structure, the tie structure extending through a first opening of the textile portion and a second opening of the base portion to secure the textile portion to the base portion.

A method of manufacturing an article of footwear includes positioning an upper on a last that defines openings connected by one or more channels in the last, injecting a material through the one or more channels in the last, and forming a structure on the upper with the material.

An article of footwear having an upper secured to an outsole in combination having three toe pockets, the first toe pocket having a configuration to separately receive within a big toe of a wearer, and the second toe pocket having a configuration to separately receive within a second toe of the wearer, and the third toe pocket having a configuration to receive within the remaining third toe, fourth toe and fifth toe of the wearer.

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 device configured to surround a portion of a foot-receiving cavity at a heel region of an article of footwear comprises a control bar having a center segment, a first side arm extending from the center segment, and a second side arm spaced from the first side arm and extending from the center segment. The control bar may include a series of slats. A base supports the control bar and is connected to the first side arm and the second side arm. The control bar is biased to an unstressed position with the center segment a first distance from the base, and elastically bends under an applied force to a loaded position with the center segment a second distance from the base less than the first distance. The device stores potential energy that returns the control bar to the unloaded position upon removal of the applied load.

A sole structure for an article of footwear can include provisions for providing auxetic behavior in the sole structure. The sole structure can comprise multiple layers that may each have different types of auxetic material. The outsole can include at least one auxetic portion joined to one non-auxetic portion. Similarly, the midsole can include at least one auxetic portion joined to one non-auxetic portion. Apertures formed in the auxetic portions of the outsole can extend through at least part of the midsole.

The invention relates to systems and methods for creating wound material portions for incorporation into an article of footwear. More particularly, one method of manufacturing at least a portion of an upper for an article of footwear, in accordance with the invention, includes the steps of providing a support structure, providing a fiber delivery system, tacking a first end of a first fiber onto the support structure, moving the support structure with respect to the fiber delivery system to wind the first fiber around the support structure, cutting a second end of the first fiber upon positioning of the first fiber onto the support structure, and treating at least a portion of the first fiber to fixedly hold it in a wound arrangement and form a fabric layer for incorporation into an article of footwear.

A multi-layer textile includes fabric tiles bonded to a base textile layer. The fabric tiles might be cut from one or more larger fabric pieces, which are textile remnants or scraps from prior manufacturing processes. The fabric tiles are bonded to the base textile layer in a manner that reduces the susceptibility of the fabric tiles to peel away from the base textile layer.

A sole structure for an article of footwear may have a midsole system that includes a sole plate having a forefoot region and a midfoot region. The sole plate may have a foot-facing surface and a ground-facing surface opposite to the foot-facing surface. The sole plate may define a through hole extending from the foot-facing surface to the ground-facing surface in the forefoot region. The through hole may be closer to a medial edge of the sole plate than to a lateral edge of the sole plate. The sole plate may have ridges extending longitudinally in the midfoot region and in the forefoot region. The ridges may have crests at least some of which may extend non-parallel with one another in a longitudinal direction of the sole plate.