A healthcare footwear article includes an upper shoe body and a sole member provided underneath the upper shoe body and is connected with the upper shoe body to form an integral body. The upper shoe body and the sole member is configured from a material consisting of approximately 70% to approximately 80% of silicon rubber by weight, approximately 5% to approximately 20% of negative ion powder by weight, approximately 2% to approximately 7% of antiwear agent by weight, approximately 5% to approximately 20% of titanium powder by weight, approximately 0.1% to approximately 1.5% of vulcanizing agent by weight, approximately 5% to approximately 10% of infrared ray powder by weight, and approximately 0.1% to approximately 8% of dye by weight.

A foam article, such as a cushioning element for an article of footwear, apparel or sporting equipment is provided that comprises a foam component, such as a midsole, having a number of beneficial physical characteristics. The cushioning element is a low-density foamed component with a surface skin that encases the remaining foam volume. The cushioning element has a number of foam volumes, arranged to achieve a more consistent foam component. Additionally, the cushioning element includes a series of concentric ridges extending radially outwardly from injection gate vestige locations, and a number of striation bands near the perimeter of the cushioning element. The location of the gate vestiges can be beneficially arranged to produce intersecting flow boundaries that are located away from key strain areas of the cushioning element. The cushioning element is more environmentally-friendly, requiring less energy to produce while still providing acceptable energy return and low density.

A procedure for making a shoe including steps of weaving/construction of an upper, forming the upper in which two previously constructed stockings are a tube that is closed on one side while the other end of the tube remains open, subjecting the upper to a steam jet that dampens and softens a thermosetting polymer yarn, and passing the upper through a high-temperature kiln. Construction of the sole entails inserting the upper into a shoe-tree of a mould, positioning the shoe-tree with the upper and closure between two rings of the mould for polyurethane injection. Because of the presence of the arch structure a barrier that limits the passage thereof to the inner part of the upper, with filling of the mould, passage of predetermined quantities of polyurethane only through the slots of the arch structure permitting joint points to be created between the sole and upper and with the inner.

A method for manufacturing a shoe can include a) lasting an upper; b) providing an open sole casting mold; c) foaming sole material outside the sole casting mold; d) injecting the foamed sole material into the sole casting mold; and e) bringing the lasted upper into contact with the injected sole material.

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.

The invention concerns a method of producing an article of footwear comprising: providing an upper; providing a mold and opening the mold; inserting the upper into the open mold; closing the mold; and injecting a pressurized molten resin, wherein, after the injecting, there is a gap filled with the resin between a side wall of the mold and an outer surface of at least a first portion of the upper, wherein the gap is essentially zero at a contacting point, wherein the gap increases gradually from the contacting point in at least a first region of the mold.

A healthcare footwear article includes an upper shoe body and a sole member provided underneath the upper shoe body and is connected with the upper shoe body to form an integral body. The upper shoe body and the sole member is configured from a material consisting of approximately 70% to approximately 80% of silicon rubber by weight, approximately 5% to approximately 20% of negative ion powder by weight, approximately 2% to approximately 7% of antiwear agent by weight, approximately 5% to approximately 20% of titanium powder by weight, approximately 0.1% to approximately 1.5% of vulcanizing agent by weight, approximately 5% to approximately 10% of infrared ray powder by weight, and approximately 0.1% to approximately 8% of dye by weight.

The invention relates to a mould (1) for manufacturing three-dimensional items, comprising a body (2); a lid (4) configured to close said body (2); and incorporated closing and opening means (5) configured to keep the body (2) and the lid (4) joined during the movement thereof. A machine (M1) for manufacturing three-dimensional items, comprising a receiving module (M2) configured to receive the mould (1); a conditioning module (M3) configured to receive the mould (1) from the receiving module (M2) and act on the incorporated closing and opening means (5) in order to separate the lid (4) from the body (2); and a handling module (M4) configured to receive the body (2) from the conditioning module (M3) and enable the placement of the components of the item to be manufactured. A method for manufacturing three-dimensional items and manufacturing plant associated with said machine (M1).

In a sole for a flexible shoe having a soft-elastic midsole which comes in contact with the ground at least partially during running, which has laterally open, trough-shaped elements which project downwards towards the ground and which are aligned transversely to the longitudinal direction thereof, a midsole is divided into a medial and a lateral part by a longitudinal slot extending from the heel into the ball region. The midsole can have an edge strip which bridges the trough-shaped elements in each case. The midsole is covered by an incompressible but elastically resilient plate framed by the edge strip and that the trough-shaped elements are deformable as far as closure of the lateral openings thereof in the region of the edge strip under the action of forces acting vertically and/or in the longitudinal direction which occur during running.

An inner sole board having varying regions of flexibility is provided for use in an article of footwear. The inner sole board may include different materials along its length at different locations that vary its flexibility. An inner sole board is manufactured in an injection molding process requiring only one mold. The process includes a first step of providing a mold, a second step of providing an injection molding assembly, a third step of preparing an injection molding assembly and mold, a fourth step of injecting material into the mold, and a fifth step of establishing the dimensions of a first portion. During the injection molding process, the flow rate of at least one material may be controlled by a nozzle gate to control the shape and size of the flex zone it creates. In this manner, the inner sole board may be customized for a specific sport or individual.