Sports shoe with a striped pattern facilitating ball handling, having an upper and a sole, wherein the surface of the upper of the sports shoe is divided into a plurality of shooting zones, namely at least into a nose zone (14), an inner shooting zone (15) and an outer shooting zone (16) and at least one of the shooting zones (14, 15, 16) comprises a plurality of ball directing stripes (20) arranged side-by-side beside and being spaced from each other and the directing stripes extend out from the surface of the upper that constitutes a basic surface (17), the directing stripes (20) have elevated outer surfaces (18) with increased grip to the ball compared to the grip of the basic surface (17), wherein the spaces between said directing stripes (20) constitute respective ball directing channels (21) and the at least one shooting zone comprises a group of at least four directing stripes (20) and a group of at least three directing channels (21) between the directing stripes, and out of these two groups the width of the directing stripes and/or the directing channels of at least one group continuously changes along its length, wherein the width of the directing stripes is at least 3 mm and at most 20 mm and their height is at least 0.4 mm, and the width of said directing channels is at most 20 mm, an the pattern comprises said groups.

An sports shoe that changes shape in two ways. Firstly, a change of shape occurs when the sports shoe is used to kick a ball with the toes. This change of shape maximizes the area of contact with a ball that is kicked with the toes. Secondly, a change of shape occurs when the front of the sports shoe rotates during contact with a kicked ball.

A flexible insert or tongue for a sports shoe for kicking a ball which self activates upon the strike of a ball to deform in a manner that conforms to the struck curvature surface of the ball to assist in conforming the shoe surface material or the shoe tongue material to the same struck area of the ball and increase the wearers' control and accuracy of the kicked ball. Following the strike the flexible insert or tongue reforms to its original shape and structure for the next strike.

Articles of footwear and methods of making articles of footwear including one or more continuous threads wound around anchor points. The winding of the one or more continuous threads forms a thread pattern that imparts desired characteristics to components of the article of footwear. Thread lines of the thread pattern may be bonded together. In some embodiments, thread lines may be bonded with a bonding layer.

Described are shoes for ball sports including an upper having an outer surface. An actuator is configured to change at least one surface property of a portion of the outer surface of the upper, and a sensor is configured to be sensitive to movements of the shoe. A processing unit is connected to the actuator and the sensor and configured to process sensor data retrieved from the sensor and to cause the actuator to change the at least one surface property of the portion of the outer surface of the upper if a predetermined event is detected in the sensor data.

An article of footwear is provided and includes an upper having a bottom surface and a first plate attached to the bottom surface of the upper in a forefoot region. The first plate includes a lateral peripheral cleat disposed adjacent to a first outward-most portion of the upper on a lateral side and a medial peripheral cleat disposed adjacent to a second outward-most portion of the upper on a medial side, the medial peripheral cleat being disposed closer to an anterior end of the first plate than the lateral peripheral cleat.

A last for forming an upper of an article of footwear includes an exterior surface, where the exterior surface includes a plurality of three dimensional structural surface components disposed over at least 50% of the exterior surface of the last.

An athletic transition shoe having a base portion including a sole, the sole includes a first plurality of apertures and a second plurality of apertures, a first plurality of projections that are selectively extendable outwardly through the first plurality of apertures, a second plurality of projections that are selectively extendable outwardly through the second plurality of apertures, and an upper portion secured to the base portion so that the shoe defines an interior volume.

Described are materials for a shoe upper, in particular for soccer shoes, with a particularly low weight. The material includes an inner polyurethane layer, an outer polyurethane layer, and a textile reinforcing layer. The textile reinforcing layer is arranged between the inner polyurethane layer and the outer polyurethane layer. The inner polyurethane layer and the outer polyurethane layer comprise thermoset polyurethane. The textile reinforcing layer comprises apertures through which the inner polyurethane layer and the outer polyurethane layer are connected to each other.

A flexible insert or tongue for a sports shoe for kicking a ball which self activates upon the strike of a ball to deform in a manner that conforms to the struck curvature surface of the ball to assist in conforming the shoe surface material or the shoe tongue material to the same struck area of the ball and increase the wearers' control and accuracy of the kicked ball. Following the strike the flexible insert or tongue reforms to its original shape and structure for the next strike.