A footwear manufactured by, and a method of manufacturing footwear by, a direct injection production. The method includes providing a direct injection mold, which is attachable to injection molding equipment and is configured for at least partly channeling injection material to a mold cavity. At least one premanufactured sole part of a sole structure is provided. The premanufactured sole part is positioned in relation to the direct injection mold. A footwear upper is positioned in relation to the direct injection mold. An injection material is injected into the mold cavity, and the mold cavity is at least partly formed by the direct injection mold. The injection material is configured for attaching the footwear upper to the at least one premanufactured sole part. The injection material, upon curing, provides an attaching sole part of the sole structure of the footwear. The at least one premanufactured sole part is a sole part that has been manufactured by a supercritical foaming process.

A method of manufacturing articles of footwear, the method comprising: (a) positioning a first upper component around a last; (b) aligning the last with a cavity region of a midsole mold; (c) positioning an upper edge of the cavity region along the first upper component to form a sealed interface around the first upper component; (d) directing a midsole material into the cavity region to form a first midsole component that is attached or coupled to the first upper component; (e) releasing the first midsole component from the midsole mold and removing the first upper component from around the last; and (f) securing a first outsole component to the first midsole component to yield a first article of footwear.

A skate (e.g., an ice skate) for a skater (e.g., a hockey player). The skate comprises a skate boot for receiving a foot of the skater and a skating device (e.g., a blade and a blade holder) disposed beneath the skate boot to engage a skating surface (e.g., ice). At least part of the skate boot and optionally at least part of one or more other components (e.g., the skating device) may be constructed from one or more materials (e.g., foams) molded by flowing in molding equipment during a molding process (e.g., injection molding or casting). This may allow the skate (or other footwear) to have useful performance characteristics (e.g., reduced weight, proper fit and comfort, etc.) while being more cost-effectively manufactured. Other articles of footwear are also provided.

A molding system for direct injection manufacturing of footwear. The molding system includes a mold cavity for receiving injection material for molding a sole part of the footwear. The system further includes a plurality of basic direct injection molds, each of which is attachable to injection molding equipment, and a plurality of sets of direct injection mold inserts, each set of direct injection mold inserts being configured to define at least part of an inner surface of the mold cavity when inserted in one of the plurality of basic direct injection molds. At least two of the plurality of basic direct injection molds differ from each other in size, corresponding to different ranges of sole part sizes.

A system including an injector, a press, and a robotic conveyance is used to form a physically foamed article of footwear component from a single-phase solution of a polymeric composition and a supercritical fluid. The parameters and features of the system are configured for the formation of the footwear component in an automated manner with enhanced throughput by the system.

Tooling and components of an injection-molding system may be used to mold a foam article. The tooling and components may include features that control parameters of the injection-molding and foaming process, such as temperature, pressure, shot size, shot placement, and the like.