An article of footwear includes an upper and a sole structure with a sole member. The sole member can be manufactured using a system that modifies the heel cushioning of the sole member over a series of footwear purchases. The modifications can be configured to correspond to a customer's evaluation of the heel cushioning previously purchased. The sole member can include a set of apertures that are formed along various surfaces of the sole member to adjust the cushioning characteristics of the sole member.

An upper for an article of footwear, the upper including a base layer defining a least a portion of the upper and polymer threads stitched to the base layer. The polymer threads may include a core composed of a first material and a coating composed of a second material, where the melting point of the first material is higher than the melting point of the second material. The polymer threads may be bonded to the base layer by the coating of the polymer threads. The polymer threads may include one or more polymer thread sets stitched in pattern(s) on area(s) of an outer surface of the base layer to provide targeted characteristics to area(s) on the upper. In some embodiments, the polymer threads may be bonded to the base layer with heat and/or pressure.

Manufacturing of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by executing various shoe-manufacturing processes in an automated fashion. For example, information describing a shoe part may be determined, such as an identification, an orientation, a color, a surface topography, an alignment, a size, etc. Based on the information describing the shoe part, automated shoe-manufacturing apparatuses may be instructed to apply various shoe-manufacturing processes to the shoe part.

A method for locating critical control points on a part or combination of parts during a manufacturing process involves mating, directly or indirectly, a jig extension to the part or parts. A pattern on the jig extension defines an origin point that is used to track the position of the part or parts during manufacturing, such as during location-sensitive operations. The jig extension may be a shoe last extension which connects to a shoe or shoe component via a shoe last.

One aspect of this disclosure is a method comprising: receiving, from a camera, a video feed depicting a pair of feet and a scaling object; capturing, with the camera, images of the feet and the scaling object based on the video feed; identifying foot features in each captured image; determining camera positions for each captured image by triangulating the foot features; generating a point cloud in a three-dimensional space by positioning each foot feature in the three-dimensional space based on the camera positions; scaling the point cloud based on the scaling object; segmenting the point cloud into at least a right-foot cluster and a left-foot cluster; fitting a first three-dimensional morphable model to the right-foot cluster according to first foot parameters; and fitting a second three-dimensional morphable model to the left-foot cluster according to second foot parameters. Related systems, apparatus, and methods also are described.

A segmented sole for an article of footwear comprises a forefoot region, a heel region, and a segmentation zone disposed between the forefoot and heel region. The segmentation zone includes a plurality of segments separated from each other and from the forefoot and heel by a plurality of sipes, cuts, or gaps. The segmented sole produces bending along a segmentation axis disposed along an arch of a wearer of an article of footwear including the sole, allowing for arch support and natural foot movement.

Manufacturing of a shoe is enhanced by creating 3-D models of shoe parts. For example, a laser beam may be projected onto a shoe-part surface, such that a projected laser line appears on the shoe part. An image of the projected laser line may be analyzed to determine coordinate information, which may be converted into geometric coordinate values usable to create a 3-D model of the shoe part. Once a 3-D model is known and is converted to a coordinate system recognized by shoe-manufacturing tools, certain manufacturing steps may be automated.

A method for locating critical control points on a part or combination of parts during a manufacturing process involves mating, directly or indirectly, a jig extension to the part or parts. A pattern on the jig extension defines an origin point that is used to track the position of the part or parts during manufacturing, such as during location-sensitive operations. The jig extension may be a shoe last extension which connects to a shoe or shoe component via a shoe last.

A design support apparatus includes: an input unit that receives shoe last data; a processor (computing unit) that computes a cutting pattern of a sheet based on the shoe last data received by the input unit; and an output unit that outputs the cutting pattern of the sheet computed by the processor. The processor calculates an amount of correction in consideration of a shrinkage direction and a shrinkage coefficient of the sheet, and calculates the cutting pattern of the sheet by developing, on a plane, three-dimensional shape data that conforms to a dimension of the shoe last data, to thereby obtain a shape pattern of an upper, and incorporating the calculated amount of correction into the shape pattern of the upper.

This disclosure concerns a master model for the production of a mold, comprising: (a) a first part, a second part comprising a textured surface; wherein the first part and the second part are connected.