Described are articles of wear including with a material with color changing properties. The material includes at least one elastic portion having an unstretched colored appearance and a stretched colored appearance. The material also includes at least one fixed portion having the stretched colored appearance regardless of a magnitude of an external force applied to the at least one fixed portion.

Comfortable, protective, durable, and lightweight footwear with minimal component parts. Both the footwear and the method of constructing the same is streamlined.

A heel support is provided for an article of footwear that includes an upper defining a foot-receiving cavity having an ankle opening. The heel support includes a cradle configured to be operatively connected to a heel region of the upper. The cradle includes a base and a cradle arm extending outward from the base to a tip portion such that the cradle arm extends upward toward the ankle opening and toward a posterior wall of the heel region. The tip portion is moveable relative to the base between an expanded position and a collapsed position. The heel support includes a metallic spring operatively connected to the cradle such that the spring biases the tip portion of the cradle arm toward the expanded position of the tip portion. The tip portion of the cradle arm is resiliently deflectable toward the collapsed position against the bias of the spring.

A rapid-entry shoe having an upper, a sole portion, and at least one pocket coupled to a rear portion of the upper and encapsulating a compressed medium that biases a topline of the shoe toward an uncollapsed configuration.

An article of footwear has a multi-layer upper, where the outermost layers of the upper are cut into a pattern. The cut portions of the upper are mounted on a contiguous substrate layer so that the edges of the cut portions are visible and perceptible to touch. The upper remains durable in terms of abrasion resistance, ply adhesion, tensile strength, and flex testing.

An article of footwear includes a sole and an upper at least partially formed of a textile element. The textile element includes a yarn matrix having a plurality of interlocked strands oriented in predetermined directions. A structural element may be captured within the matrix at selected locations. In operation, the matrix is stitched onto a temporary substrate. The substrate is removed and the article coupled to a sole structure to form the article of footwear.

A rapid-entry shoe having an elastic element to enlarge a foot opening of the rapid-entry shoe and also having a stabilizer to prevent a rear portion of the rapid-entry shoe from collapsing downward.

Systems and methods for automatically producing a cord structure are provided herein. In one embodiment, a method comprises automatically forming, with at least one robotic arm, a first plurality of loops in a first plane, and automatically forming, with the at least one robotic arm, a second plurality of loops in a second plane orthogonal to the first plane, the second plurality of loops slippably engaged with the first plurality of loops. In this way, cord structures may be quickly constructed, thereby reducing labor input and expense.

A rapid-entry shoe having a heel arm configured to transition between a collapsed configuration, for easy donning and doffing of the shoe, and an uncollapsed configuration, for securing a foot inside the shoe, the shoe having a resilient member configured to bias the heel arm toward the uncollapsed configuration.

A shoe may include an upper portion constructed from a continuous textile (e.g., a knit textile) that includes multiple regions having different textile properties to improve the performance of the shoe, including durability and comfort. In some cases, the multi-region upper portion may include regions having different thickness and/or flexibility based on a location relative to a wearer's foot to better support the wearer's foot. For example, the multi-region upper portion may include a reinforcement region having a first thickness and a flex region having a second thickness less than the first thickness. As another example, the multi-region upper portion may include a reinforcement region having a first stiffness and a flex region having a second stiffness less than the first stiffness.