Protective footwear, such as a motorcycle or motocross boot, can have a supple, leather boot feel. Disclosed footwear can have a hinged coupling between a foot engagement structure and a lower-leg engagement structure to promote anatomically correct flexion in a wearer's ankle. The lower-leg engagement portion can define a ledge having a lowermost face configured to abut and matingly urge against an uppermost face of a ledge of the foot engagement portion to limit an extent of pivoting of the hinged coupling. The hinged coupling, in some instances, can include a pair of opposed bushings, each defining an internal thread configured to matingly engage a corresponding outer thread on a stud. The stud can retain the lower-leg engagement portion and the foot engagement portion in a pivotable relationship to each other. The opposed bushings can be keyed to matingly engage either a lateral portion of the foot engagement portion or a medial portion of the foot engagement portion.

Protective footwear, such as a motorcycle or motocross boot, can have a supple, leather boot feel. Disclosed footwear can have a hinged coupling between a foot engagement structure and a lower-leg engagement structure to promote anatomically correct flexion in a wearer's ankle. The lower-leg engagement portion can define a ledge having a lowermost face configured to abut and matingly urge against an uppermost face of a ledge of the foot engagement portion to limit an extent of pivoting of the hinged coupling. The hinged coupling, in some instances, can include a pair of opposed bushings, each defining an internal thread configured to matingly engage a corresponding outer thread on a stud. The stud can retain the lower-leg engagement portion and the foot engagement portion in a pivotable relationship to each other. The opposed bushings can be keyed to matingly engage either a lateral portion of the foot engagement portion or a medial portion of the foot engagement portion.

An article of footwear (10) that includes a liner (30), an upper (14), and an insert (50). The liner has an inward surface (31) that encloses an inner void (18) for accommodating a foot, and an outward surface (32) that defines a rear shaft portion (38), a heel portion (36), and a sole portion (35). The upper has a midsole portion (42), and surrounds the rear shaft portion, the sole portion, and the heel portion of the liner. The insert is formed as a single body of material with increased hardness and stiffness relative to the upper. This insert is arranged between the liner and the upper, and includes a protruding portion (54), a heel counter (56), and a shank (58). The protruding portion extends upwards from the heel counter and along the rear shaft portion, and provides a guiding trajectory for a heel during insertion into the inner void.

The present invention relates to a shank adapted for being integrated into a shoe sole and for mounting a heel element, wherein said shank at its heel portion is adapted to be connected to the heel element and wherein said shank comprises an upper surface pointing towards the inner shoe. At least a part of the upper surface at the heel portion is cup-shaped and adapted for receiving sole material inside the cup when integrating said shank in said sole during moulding of said shoe sole. Thereby, due to the amount of sole material present in the heel portion, the sole material covers the means used for connecting the shank to the heel element. Thereby, based on the properties of the sole material, the heeled shoe becomes comfortable and flexible at the heel portion. The invention further relates to a sole for a shoe with a cup-shaped shank and more specifically to a shoe with a cup-shaped shank.

A footwear securing device is provided. The device includes a front strap, a mid strap, a rear strap, an ankle strap, a connector strap, and a base plate; the base plate configured to attach to a sole of a shoe and comprising a front portion, a mid portion, and a rear portion, the front portion comprising a front slot, the mid portion comprising a mid slot, and the rear portion comprising a rear slot; and the front strap configured to enter the front slot, the mid strap configured to enter the mid slot, and the rear strap configured to enter the rear slot.

An ankle brace for treating or preventing a high ankle sprain is disclosed. The ankle brace includes a body configured to be worn over an ankle. A tightening mechanism is attached to the body and configured to tighten the body around a wearer's lower leg to prevent distal ends of the tibia and fibula from separating. A torsion strap is attached to the body and configured to wrap from a fifth metatarsal to a medial malleolus to limit external rotation of the foot. The ankle brace can include lateral and medial straps for limiting eversion and inversion of the foot. The ankle brace can include heat moldable lateral and medial support plates.

Methods of forming an article of footwear using a multipart strobel structure and a resulting article of footwear comprising an upper with a transition strip are described. The transition strip that has an outer perimeter edge, an inner perimeter edge, and a width between the outer perimeter edge and the inner perimeter edge, with the inner perimeter edge defining an internal opening of the transition strip, and the inner strobel that has an outer perimeter edge. The inner strobel is positioned in an overlapping relationship with the transition strip and temporarily attached.

A footwear article is provided comprising a wear guard, wherein the wear guard includes bellows. In at least one example, the bellows are spaced away from a toe of the footwear article. In one or more examples, the bellows extend along an edge of a lacing structure of the footwear article. Additionally or alternatively, the bellows may be positioned adjacent to a tongue of the footwear article.

An article of footwear may include an upper configured to receive a foot and a sole component fixedly attached to a bottom portion of the upper. The sole component may include a baseplate having a bottom surface. The sole component may also include an arrangement of ground engaging members extending downward from the bottom surface of the baseplate. The baseplate may further include a reinforcing shank arrangement including a plurality of reinforcing strips formed of a different material than portions of the baseplate adjacent the reinforcing strips, wherein at least one of the reinforcing strips forms at least a portion of a base platform from which at least one of the ground engaging members extends.

An article of footwear may include an upper configured to receive a foot and a sole component fixedly attached to a bottom portion of the upper. The sole component may include a baseplate having a bottom surface. The sole component may also include an arrangement of ground engaging members extending downward from the bottom surface of the baseplate. The baseplate may further include a reinforcing shank arrangement including a plurality of reinforcing strips formed of a different material than portions of the baseplate adjacent the reinforcing strips, wherein at least one of the reinforcing strips forms at least a portion of a base platform from which at least one of the ground engaging members extends.