A sole for a shoe, the sole comprising reinforcing members extending in a front half of the sole, wherein at least a first one of the reinforcing members further extends rearwardly beyond a midfoot area and into a heel area of the sole and wraps up to a posterior portion of an ankle region. A shoe, in particular a running shoe, comprising such a sole. A method for the manufacture of such items.

Described herein is a method for producing a PU foam insole, including the following steps of: (1) pouring the raw materials used to form a PU foam into a mould, reacting to obtain a PU sheet, where the height of the mould cavity is from about 1.0 to about 1.6 times of the total thickness of two finished insoles; (2) splitting the PU sheet into two halves in the horizontal direction to obtain two pieces of PU insole material, where one surface of the material has open pores, and the other surface of the material has a skin; and (3) attaching a piece of fabric onto the surface having open pores of the material obtained in step (2). Also described herein is a PU foam insole produced by the method.

A compressible footwear that may include a compressible sole and a compressible upper part that is mechanically coupled to the compressible sole. The compressible sole consisting essentially of multiple compressible cells that are made of a flexible material and have top openings and bottom openings. The multiple compressible cells span over at least a majority of the compressible sole and are configured to undergo a compression while substantially maintaining a thickness of the compressible sole.

A footwear assembly having an upper that comprises a neoprene sock with a foot portion integrally connected to a leg portion. The foot portion has heel, vamp and under-foot portions. The leg portion has front shin, side wall, and rear calf-side portions. The upper has a unitary, outer, injection molded layer molded directly onto the foot and shin portions of the neoprene sock, while the sidewall and rear calf-side portions remain substantially uncovered by the injection molded layer. The injection molded layer encases the foot portion of the neoprene sock. The injection molded layer on the shin portion defines a shin guard portion having a necked down area integrally connected to the injection molded layer at the vamp portion, wherein the shin guard extends upwardly from the necked-down portion in an outwardly diverging shape away from the vamp.

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 has an upper that is direct attached with the sole. The sole has a film extending up sidewalls of the sole to a film edge that is prior to the sidewall and the upper joining. Method of manufacture of the article of footwear includes steps of positioning a film over a mold cavity and then securing the film to the mold. The film is heated and then drawn into the mold cavity under a vacuum. The film forms a liner of the mold cavity. A foam composition is injected into the lined mold cavity. As the foam composition expands, the foam composition interacts with and mechanically engages with the upper that is positioned at the mold cavity to allow for the mechanical engagement that results in the direct attach of the sole to the upper. The film is then trimmed from the sole sidewalls.

This document discloses a process for manufacturing recyclable injection molded microcellular foams for use in, footwear components, seating components, protective gear components, and watersport accessories. The process includes the steps of providing a thermoplastic polymer which comprises at least one monomer derived from depolymerized post-consumer plastic, inserting a fluid into a barrel of a molding apparatus. The fluid is introduced under temperature and pressure conditions to produce a super critical fluid. The process further includes mixing the thermoplastic polymer and super critical fluid so as to create a single phase solution, and injecting the single phase solution into a mold of an injection molding machine under gas counter pressure. The process further includes foaming the single phase solution by controlling the head and temperature conditions within the mold.

In order to provide an injection molded article that is able to be easily produced so that a molding surface of a forming mold is accurately reflected on the injection molded article, and, in order to provide a shoe having a shoe part excellent in appearance, the shoe part is formed of an elastomer composition showing a certain heat melting characteristics.

A shoe having a removable sole is provided. The shoe includes one or more straps that are insertable through corresponding apertures in the soles to attach a sole to a base of the shoe. The removable soles provide a shoe with capability to interchange soles, thereby providing for specialized soles to supply for a single shoe, which allows use of the shoe with various athletic sports.

A method for manufacturing a light-weight waterproof shoe/boot includes steps of cutting waterproof leather, arranging and stacking vamp section, forming through hot pressing, sewing heel section, hot-pressing heel section, combining midsole, and injecting sole to accompany fabrication of a waterproof shoe/boot, in which fabrication of a vamp section and a shaft section is accomplished through hot pressing the waterproof leather that is coated with a hot-melt adhesive; a sewing line of a heel section is covered by a heel water-resistant plate that is attached thereto through hot pressing to provide an effect of waterproofness; and a sewing line between a midsole and the vamp section is covered by an upper rim of a sole to achieve an effect of waterproofness. The vamp section and the shaft section are made with the waterproof leather that is light and thin so that the weight of the waterproof shoe/boot is greatly reduced.