A ski boot assembly may include an outer shell having a relatively hard portion and a relatively soft portion. A cuff may be attached to the hard portion for pivot action relative to the outer shell. The cuff may extend around the outer shell, leaving an instep cover of the soft portion exposed. The cuff may include overlapping portions that are hinge coupled to the cuff. A flex bar may be inserted into a shaft of the hard portion. A bootboard may be situated above the sole plate, and be provided with ridges. A shoe can be inserted into the outer shell. The sole of the shoe may be provided with grooves that receive the ridges of the bootboard. A locking mechanism can be mounted on the hard portion of the outer shell to selectively engage with the heel of the shoe.

The inventive subject matter shown and described is directed to an item of footwear with a tensioning system, comprising: a shell for enclosing a foot and at least a portion of a lower leg; a pair of opposing edges generally aligned along the top of foot portion of the shell and/or a front lower leg portion, the edges generally aligning with a longitudinal axis of the foot and/or lower leg, the opposing edges defining opposite sides of the shell.

A combination of a ski boot and a strap is provided. The strap extends from an attachment point on the lateral side of a hard outer shell of the boot and in use is tightened to hold the inner boot liner in relatively fixed proximity to the lateral side of the outer boot shell during skiing. The strap can extend around the inner boot liner, or be at least partially incorporated as a part of the inner boot liner. In either case, the strap is adjustable between the tightened position, and an open position.

There is disclosed a ski boot system. One embodiment includes right and left side portions formed by a longitudinal split with a hinged connection therebetween. The open configuration allows placement of an inner liner into the shell. The closed configuration restricts removal of the liner from the shell. A selectively fastenable connector and/or a selectively locking sheath extend between the right and left side portions. The selectively fastenable connector and/or the selectively locking sheath permit selective positioning of the shell between open and closed configurations. The liner of a ski boot includes a wall of material defining inner and outer surfaces. The outer surface defines an exterior having dimensions sized to compressively fit within the shell. The inner surface defines an interior having dimensions sized to receive a foot. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Ski boot with rigid shell comprising a lower shell (30) and a cuff (20) articulated in rotation to the lower shell (30), characterized in that it comprises at least a connecting ring (10) connecting the cuff (20) to the lower shell (30), this connecting ring (10) comprising a locking surface (11) collaborating with an opening (31) in the lower shell (30) so as to prevent the connecting ring (10) from rotating relative to the lower shell (30), and a rotation surface (12) collaborating with an opening (24) in the cuff so as to guide the rotation of the cuff (20) relative to the lower shell (30) about this second surface.

Provided herein are various embodiments for a boot for releasable engagement with a binding having a downwardly facing ledge and a toe strap. The boot preferably contains a sole, a toe portion, and a heel portion. The boot preferably also contains a heel retaining device extending rearwardly from the heel portion of the boot and having an upwardly facing engagement surface at the top of the device which engages with the downwardly facing ledge of the binding to prevent vertical movement of the boot relative to the binding while allowing forward horizontal movement of the boot relative to the binding.

A base is provided for a ski boot comprising a sole and an outsole element that is positioned in a predetermined position relative to a longitudinal axis (L). The outsole element is positioned on the sole by using two projections that are carried by one or other of the sole and the outsole element and that locate in holes or cavities defined by the other. Preferably, the projections are carried by the outsole element and locate in holes or cavities defined by the sole. The projections may be integrally formed with the outsole element or the sole. Alternatively, they may be formed by injected pins, rivets, fasteners, t-nuts, or screws.

Ski boot comprising: a rigid foot-case, which is adapted to accommodate the user's foot; a rigid cuff, which is pivoted on the foot-case so as to be able to swing around a first rotation axis substantially perpendicular to the midplane of the boot; and a manually-operated cuff locking device, which is adapted to selectively lock the cuff to the foot-case in a predetermined down-hill position, and which comprises: a supporting plate positioned on the cuff, above the heel of the boot; a movable arm, which is pivoted on the supporting plate so that it can rotate about a second transverse axis, to and from a locking position in which the movable arm extends downwards and couples its lower end in a rigid and releasable manner to an anchoring structure integral with the foot-case; and a manually-operated locking member which is fixed to the movable arm with the capability of moving between a first operating position in which it immobilises the movable arm in the locked position, and a second operating position in which it allows the movable arm to move freely on the supporting plate.

Sports boot element comprising all or part of a wall designed to form at least part of a lateral and/or frontal and/or rear and/or lower wall of a sports boot, characterised in that all or part of its wall comprises a material (10) comprising a polymer (11) and a hollow microball (12) filler.

A walking boot and a boot frame. The boot frame can be formed to receive the walking boot. The walking boot can be secured within the boot frame via one or more buckles. The walking boot can have an externally mounted tongue that can be tensioned via the use of one or more laces and associated tensioning mechanisms. The tongue can be molded to conform to a user's foot and leg while the tensioning mechanisms secure the user's foot and leg within the walking boot. In some embodiments, the boot frame has an open heel to capture the walking boot. In some other embodiments, the boot frame has a rotatable heel configured to pivot away from the toe and receive a heel of the walking boot for easy coupling of the walking boot to the boot frame.