AN ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR

Abstract

An article of footwear includes an upper assembly having a foot insertion volume. The foot insertion volume includes a proximal part and a lateral part. A first layer and a second layer each have a lateral surface and a medial surface, respectively. The second layer is positioned between the foot insertion volume and the medial surface of the first layer. A sole assembly includes an upper facing surface and a ground contacting surface. The upper facing surface is connected to the proximal part of the upper assembly. A peripheral part of the sole assembly overlaps a proximal part of the first outer layer and/or the second layer. The first outer layer includes a through-going opening extending from the lateral surface and towards the medial surface. A part of the overlapping material of the sole penetrates the opening to bond to the second layer.

Claims

1. An article of footwear comprising: an upper assembly having a longitudinal axis extending from a heel area of the upper assembly towards a forefoot area of the upper assembly, the upper assembly comprising: a foot insertion volume, where the foot insertion volume comprises a proximal part and a lateral part that extends from the proximal part and in a vertical direction upwards away from the proximal part; a first layer having a lateral surface and a medial surface; a waterproof and vapor permeable functional second layer having a lateral surface and a medial surface, where the second layer is positioned between the foot insertion volume and the medial surface of the first layer; a sole assembly comprising an upper facing surface and a ground contacting surface, where the upper facing surface is connected to the proximal part of the upper assembly and where a peripheral part of the sole assembly overlaps a proximal part of the first layer and/or a proximal part of the second layer; wherein the first layer of the upper assembly comprises textile having through-going openings extending from the lateral surface and towards the medial surface, wherein a part of a sole material of the sole assembly penetrates the through-going openings, such that the sole material bonds to the second layer providing a waterproof seal between the sole material and the second layer at a position where the first layer abuts the second layer in the region where the peripheral part of the sole assembly overlaps the proximal part of the first layer and/or the second layer, and wherein the through-going openings are formed by passages between interlocked strands of the textile.

2. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, wherein the second layer includes through-going openings, and wherein the sole material penetrates the through-going openings in the second layer providing a waterproof inner seal on the medial surface of the second layer in order to ensure that liquids cannot enter or exit the foot insertion volume via the through-going openings in the second layer.

3. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 2, wherein the inner seal extends from the opening and in a distal direction along the medial side of the second layer, where the inner seal optionally extends from the opening and in a proximal direction along the proximal part of the foot insertion volume.

4. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, where the upper facing surface terminates in a lateral end (edge) that extends in a radial direction away from a central point of the sole assembly.

5. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first layer and the second layer are attached to each other via at least one stitch.

6. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, where the upper assembly further comprises a connecting portion adapted to connect the proximal portion of the upper assembly to the first and/or the second layer.

7. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, where the connecting portion extends a distance in a radial direction outward from a central point of the upper assembly towards a radial part of the upper assembly, where the connecting portion overlaps the upper facing surface of the sole assembly in a lateral direction in a range between 50% and 99%.

8. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, wherein the sole material does not penetrate parts of the region between the first layer and the second layer in the region where the sole material overlaps the first layer and/or the second layer.

9. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first layer is an outermost layer of the upper assembly.

10. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, wherein the sole assembly is injection molded.

11. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, wherein the sole material of the sole assembly is a polymer material, a polyurethane (PU), a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), or a multi component sole assembly comprising different parts of polymeric materials having different properties.

12. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, wherein the through-going openings include a plurality of through-going openings positioned on a proximal end of the first and/or the second layer.

13. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 12, wherein the plurality of through-going openings are arranged in a linear manner, creating one or more rows of through-going openings in the first and/or the second layer.

14. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, wherein the waterproof seal extends continuously along the entire proximal part of the second layer.

15. The article of footwear in accordance with claim 1, wherein the medial surface of the first layer abuts the lateral surface of the second layer in the region where the peripheral part of the sole assembly overlaps the proximal part of the first layer and/or proximal part of the second layer.

16. A method of manufacturing an article of footwear, the footwear including: an upper assembly having a longitudinal axis extending from a heel area of the upper assembly towards the forefoot area of the upper assembly, the upper assembly comprising: a foot insertion volume, where the foot insertion volume comprises a proximal part and a lateral part that extends from the proximal part and in a vertical direction upwards away from the proximal part, a first layer having a lateral surface and a medial surface, a waterproof and vapor permeable functional second layer having a lateral surface and a medial surface, where the second layer is positioned between the foot insertion volume and the medial surface of the first layer; and a sole assembly comprising an upper facing surface and a ground contacting surface, where the upper facing surface is connected to the proximal part of the upper assembly and where a peripheral part of the sole assembly overlaps a proximal part of the first layer and/or the second layer, where the first layer of the upper assembly comprises textile having through-going openings extending from the lateral surface and towards the medial surface; and where the method comprises: bonding, between the first layer and the second layer, by penetrating adhesive through the through-going openings onto the second layer thereby providing a waterproof seal between a sole material and the second layer, and wherein the through-going openings are formed by passages between interlocked strands of the textile.

17. A method of manufacturing an article of footwear, the footwear including: an upper assembly having a longitudinal axis extending from a heel area of the upper assembly towards the forefoot area of the upper assembly, the upper assembly comprising: a foot insertion volume, where the foot insertion volume comprises a proximal part and a lateral part that extends from the proximal part and in a vertical direction upwards away from the proximal part, a first layer having a lateral surface and a medial surface, a waterproof and vapor permeable functional second layer having a lateral surface and a medial surface, where the second layer is positioned between the foot insertion volume and the medial surface of the first layer; and a sole assembly comprising an upper facing surface and a ground contacting surface, where the upper facing surface is connected to the proximal part of the upper assembly and where a peripheral part of the sole assembly overlaps a proximal part of the first layer and/or the second layer, where the first layer of the upper assembly comprises textile having through-going openings extending from the lateral surface and towards the medial surface; and where the method comprises: bonding, between the first layer and the second layer, by penetrating sole material through the openings onto the second layer thereby providing a waterproof seal between the sole material and the second layer, wherein the through-going openings are formed by passages between interlocked strands of the textile.

18. The method of manufacturing an article of footwear according to claim 17, whereby the penetrating of sole material through said through-going openings is provided by a direct injection process of the sole material to the upper assembly.

19. The method of manufacturing an article of footwear according to claim 17, wherein the sole material is polyurethane

20. The method of manufacturing an article of footwear according to claim 17, wherein the through-going openings of the textile is at least partly provided by a perforation process performed on only a part of said first layer.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0044] FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of an article of footwear, having an upper assembly and a sole assembly,

[0045] FIGS. 2a and 2b, shows a sectional view of a part of an article of footwear,

[0046] FIGS. 3a and 3b, shows a sectional view of a part of an article of footwear, and

[0047] FIGS. 4a and 4b show a side view of an upper, having one and two rows of through-going openings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0048] FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of an article of footwear 1, such as a shoe, comprising an upper assembly 2 and a sole assembly 3, where the upper assembly comprises a foot insertion volume 4. The upper assembly 2 comprises a first layer 5 and a second layer 6, where the first layer 5 is the outer layer of the upper assembly 2, and the second layer 6 is positioned between the first layer 5 and the foot insertion volume 4, in a radial direction away from the point A.

[0049] The upper assembly 2 has a proximal part 7 and a distal part 8, where the proximal part abuts the upper facing surface 9 of the sole assembly 3. The sole assembly further has a ground contacting surface 10, which is intended to come into contact with the ground when the article of footwear 1 is worn by a user. In accordance with one or more embodiments, the sole assembly may be a midsole, where the ground contacting surface 10 may be an outsole facing surface, in case there is an outsole applied between the midsole and the ground, or any other form for a sole part located between the ground and the midsole. Thus, the term ground contacting surface may be replaced by the term ground facing surface.

[0050] The sole assembly has a medial part 11 and opposing lateral parts 12, where the lateral parts may comprise a lateral wall 13, that extends from the upper facing surface 9 and towards the ground contacting surface 10. The upper facing surface 9 may have a peripheral edge 14 that abuts the outer surface 15 (lateral surface) of the first layer 5, and the part of the upper facing surface 9 that overlaps the first layer 5 may be bonded to the outer surface (lateral surface) 15 of the first layer. The first layer has a proximal end 16 that extends past the peripheral edge 14 of the upper surface, and extends in a proximal direction towards the bottom 17 of the upper assembly, and terminates in an area where the upper assembly 2 and the sole assembly 3 are joined.

[0051] The first layer 5 further comprises a medial surface 18 that faces the foot insertion volume 4 of the upper assembly 2, and a distal end 19. The second layer comprises a lateral surface 20 and a medial surface 21, as well as a proximal end 22 and a distal end 23. The lateral surface 20 of the second layer 6 abuts the medial surface 18 of the first layer 5, where the medial surface 21 of the second layer 6 faces the foot insertion volume 4 of the upper assembly 2. The upper assembly 2 may comprise more than two layers, where a third, fourth or subsequent layers may be provided. The second layer 2 however should be positioned between the foot insertion volume and the outermost layer of the upper assembly, in order to prevent liquids to enter the foot insertion volume.

[0052] The upper assembly may be provided with a through going opening 24, which may be positioned in the first layer 5 and/or the second layer 6, close to the proximal ends 16, 22 of the two layers, where the opening provides a fluid communication, prior to the application of the sole assembly 3, to the lateral surface 20, the medial surface 21 and/or the proximal end 22 of the second layer, allowing the sole material to penetrate the opening and bond with the second layer 6, creating a waterproof bond between the sole material and the second layer 6.

[0053] FIG. 2a shows the upper assembly 2, prior to the application of the sole assembly, where a last 25 has been introduced into the foot insertion volume 4 (shown in FIG. 1) of the upper assembly. The proximal end 16 of the first layer 5 and the proximal end 22 of the second layer 6 are provided with a through going opening 26, which penetrates both layers 5, 6 and provides a fluid communication into the foot insertion volume 4 of the upper assembly 2. The last 25 is provided with an area 27 that creates a volume 28 inside the foot insertion volume 4, where the boundaries of the volume 28 are the medial surface 21 of the second layer, the outer surface of the last 25 and a distal surface 30 of a connecting portion 29. The volume 28 is in fluid communication with the opening 26, where sole material can penetrate the opening, and enter the volume 28.

[0054] The first layer 5 is further provided with a first through-going opening 31 and a second through-going opening 32, that are positioned in the vicinity of the proximal end 16 of the first layer 6, where the openings provide a fluid communication to the lateral surface 20 of the second layer 6, allowing the sole material to penetrate the openings 31 and 32 to come into contact with lateral surface 20

[0055] The result of the application of the sole assembly 3 is shown in FIG. 2b, where the last 25 has been removed, and the sole material 33 has penetrated the volume 28, via the through going opening 26, to create an inner seal 34 that is bonded to the medial surface 21 of the second layer 6, as well as penetrating the openings 31 and 32, to create a waterproof bond between the sole material 33 and the lateral surface 20 of the second layer 6. The inner seal may extend upwards (distal direction) along the medial surface 21 of the second layer, ensuring that liquids cannot pass the inner seal 34 in a direction towards the foot insertion volume. The inner seal 34 may extend along the entire circumference of the proximal end 22 of the second layer 6, ensuring that liquids cannot pass into the foot insertion volume via the opening 26.

[0056] The connecting portion 29 may be of the kind which creates a watertight seal between the connecting portion 29 and the sole material, so that the sole material can seal the abutting proximal end 22 of the second layer, ensuring that liquids cannot pass into the foot insertion volume via the connecting portion 29. This may occur where the sole material may provide a waterproof seal between the connecting portion and the sole material, where a bond occurs on the proximal and/or the distal surface area of the connecting portion, or where the sole material may penetrate the connecting portion 29 , to fill up all open volumes of the connection portion 29, if there are any.

[0057] The sole material 33 also penetrates the first 31 and the second 32 through-going openings in the first layer 6, so that the sole material bonds with the lateral surface 20 of the second layer. The bond ensures that liquids cannot pass in a medial direction past the bond, and that liquids cannot pass through the first layer in the area of the bond.

[0058] The embodiment shown in FIG. 2a, is an exemplary embodiment, showing a plurality of the through going openings 26, 31 and 32 in a single cross section of the shoe, on one side of the shoe. In other embodiments, showing a cross section of a shoe, the upper assembly may have one, two, three, or further numbers of openings, where the through-going openings may be in the first layer, the second layer, both layers. The bond may be on any part of the second layer, provided that it is in an area where the sole assembly overlaps the proximal part of the upper assembly.

[0059] FIG. 3a shows a cross sectional view of a first layer 5 and a second layer 6, where there is a through-going opening 26 through both layers, allowing a fluid communication from the lateral side 15 of the first layer 5 to the medial side 21 of the second layer 6. The sole material 33, extends through the opening 26, and terminates on the medial side 21 of the second layer 6, where the medial part 35 of the sole material, has an increased diameter, so that the medial part covers an area on the medial side 21 that is larger than the opening 26.

[0060] FIG. 3b shows a similar cross sectional view, where the proximal end 16 of the first layer 5 and the proximal end 22 of the second layer 6 terminate at different proximal positions. The proximal end 22 of the second layer 6 is connected to a connecting portion 29. The medial part 35 may extend in a proximal direction and past the joint 36 between the connecting portion 29 and the proximal end 22, so that liquids cannot enter or exit the joint 36 in a medial or lateral direction.

[0061] FIGS. 4a and 4b show an upper assembly 2, where the proximal end 16 of the first layer 5 are provided with a plurality of through-going openings 37, where the openings are arranged in a linear manner 38, along the entire perimeter of the proximal end 16 of the of the first layer 5. FIG. 4a, shows an upper assembly having only one row 38 of openings 37, where FIG. 4b shows an upper assembly having two adjacent rows 38, 39, of openings. The openings may be positioned offset 37 in the longitudinal direction B, in one row, so that one opening in the upper row 39 is directly above a gap between two openings 37 in the lower row 38, or vice versa.

[0062] FIG. 5 shows a sectional view of a part of an article of footwear 1, having an upper assembly 2 comprising a second layer 6 and a first layer 5, where a third layer 50 has been attached to the first layer 5. The third layer 50 may in some areas be the outermost layer of at least part of the upper assembly 2. In this embodiment the third layer is positioned as the outermost layer at a proximal part 7 of the upper assembly 2. The proximal end 51 of the third layer 50 and the distal end 52 of the third layer 50 may be attached to the first layer 5 via a stitching, where the third layer 50 may e.g. be seen as a decorative layer, or a layer a specific function to the upper assembly, such as an increased durability, strength, etc. The medial side surface 54 of the third layer 50 may therefore be attached to the lateral surface 15 of the first layer 5.

[0063] The first layer 5 in this embodiment, may be provided as a perforated layer, where the perforations in the first layer 5 may be seen as openings 31, 32 that allow fluid communication from the lateral side 15 of the first layer 5 to the medial side 18 of the first layer, where the perforations 31,32 are dimensioned in such a manner, that they allow the sole material 33 , to penetrate the perforations and come into contact with the lateral surface 20 of the second layer 6, creating a seal 55 between the sole material 33 and the lateral surface 20, and thus ensuring that liquids cannot pass the sole material and the lateral surface. The first layer 5 may be attached to the connecting portion 29 using the same strobel stitch 22 which connects the connecting portion to the second layer.

[0064] Thus, the sole material 33 may attach to all three layers 5, 6, 50 in that the sole material may attach to the lateral surface 53 and the proximal end 51 of the third material 50, to the surface area of the perforations 31, 32 and the lateral surface 15 of the first material 5, as well as the lateral surface 20 of the second material 6. The proximal end 51 of the third material 50, may terminate prior to the proximal end 26 of first layer 5 and/or the proximal end 22 of the second layer 6, i.e. where the first and second layer extend a longer distance in a medial direction toward the centre of into the upper facing surface 9 of the sole assembly 3.

[0065] Within the scope of the present invention the first layer 5, may extend from a distal portion 23 of the upper assembly 2 and towards the proximal portion 7 of the upper assembly 2 (as seen in FIG. 1), where the layer as a whole may be perforated, and present an outer layer of the shoe, which may be seen as perforated. One example of such material may be a knitted layer, having a low stitch density, allowing the material of the sole assembly to penetrate between the stitching, or a textile layer having a perforated structure which allows the sole material to penetrate from its distal surface towards its lateral surface of the perforated layer.

[0066] Within the concept of the present invention, a perforated first layer having through going openings and/or perforations that allow sole material to penetrate, may be attached to a connecting portion via a stitching. Another example could be to provide the first layer where the first layer is laminated to the second layer, creating a structure where the medial surface of the first layer is laminated to the lateral surface of the second layer, but where the perforations (through going openings) allow the sole material to penetrate, and come into contact to the lateral surface of the second layer via the perforations and/or openings and bond to the lateral surface of the second layer.

[0067] The use of the terms “first”, “second”, “third” and “fourth”, “primary”, “secondary”, “tertiary” etc. does not imply any particular order, but are included to identify individual elements. Moreover, the use of the terms “first”, “second”, “third” and “fourth”, “primary”, “secondary”, “tertiary” etc. does not denote any order or importance, but rather the terms “first”, “second”, “third” and “fourth”, “primary”, “secondary”, “tertiary” etc. are used to distinguish one element from another. Note that the words “first”, “second”, “third” and “fourth”, “primary”, “secondary”, “tertiary” etc. are used here and elsewhere for labelling purposes only and are not intended to denote any specific spatial or temporal ordering.

[0068] Furthermore, the labelling of a first element does not imply the presence of a second element and vice versa.

[0069] Although features have been shown and described, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the claimed invention, and it will be made obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed invention. The specification and drawings are, accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative rather than restrictive sense. The claimed invention is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents.

ITEMS

[0070] 1. An article of footwear comprising [0071] an upper assembly having a longitudinal axis extending from a heel area of the upper assembly towards the forefoot area of the upper assembly, the upper assembly comprising [0072] a foot insertion volume, where the foot insertion volume comprises a proximal part and a lateral part that extends from the proximal part and in a vertical direction upwards away from the proximal part, [0073] a first layer having a lateral surface and a medial surface, [0074] a waterproof and vapour permeable functional second layer having a lateral surface and a medial surface, where the second layer is positioned between the foot insertion volume and the medial surface of the first layer, [0075] a sole assembly comprising an upper facing surface and a ground contacting surface, where the upper facing surface is connected to the proximal part of the upper assembly and where a peripheral part of the sole assembly overlaps a proximal part of the first layer and/or the second layer,
where the first layer of the upper assembly and/or the second layer comprises at least one through-going opening extending from the lateral surface and towards the medial surface, where a part of the overlapping material of the sole penetrates the opening and where the material of the sole bonds to the second layer providing a waterproof seal between the sole material and the second layer. [0076] 2. An article of footwear in accordance with item 1, wherein the sole material penetrates the opening in the second layer and providing a waterproof inner seal on the medial side of the second layer in order to ensure that liquids cannot enter or exit the foot insertion volume via the opening in the second layer. [0077] 3. An article of footwear in accordance with item 2, wherein the inner seal extends from the opening and in distal direction along the medial side of the second layer, where the inner seal optionally extends from the opening and in a proximal direction along the proximal part of the foot insertion volume [0078] 4. An article of footwear in accordance with any one of the preceding items, where the upper facing surface terminates in a lateral end (edge) that extends in a radial direction away from a central point of the sole assembly. [0079] 5. An article of footwear in accordance with any of the preceding items wherein the first layer and the second layer are attached to each other via at least one stitch, optionally a strobel stitch. [0080] 6. An article of footwear in accordance with any of the preceding items where the upper assembly further comprises a connecting portion adapted to connect the proximal portion of the upper assembly to the first and/or the second layer. [0081] 7. An article of footwear in accordance with item 5 where the connecting portion extends a distance in a radial direction outward from a central point of the upper assembly towards a radial part of the upper assembly, where the connecting portion overlaps the upper facing surface of the sole assembly in a lateral direction in a range between 50% and 99% [0082] 8. An article of footwear in accordance with any one of the preceding items, wherein the second layer abuts the first layer. [0083] 9. An article of footwear in accordance with any one of the preceding items, wherein the first layer is an outermost layer of the upper assembly. [0084] 10. An article of footwear in accordance with any one of the preceding items, wherein the sole assembly is injection moulded, optionally where the sole assembly is direct injection expanded foam moulding. [0085] 11. An article of footwear in accordance with any one of the preceding items, wherein the material of the sole assembly is a polymer material, optionally a polyurethane (PU), optionally a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), or a multi component sole assembly comprising different parts of polymeric materials having different properties. [0086] 12. An article of footwear in accordance with any one of the preceding items, wherein the at least one through going opening, may be a plurality of through going openings positioned on a proximal end of the first and/or the second layer. [0087] 13. An article of footwear in accordance with item 12, wherein the plurality of through going openings may be arranged in a linear manner, creating one or more rows of through going openings in the first and/or the second layer. [0088] 14. An article of footwear in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the waterproof seal extends continuously along the entire proximal part of the second layer.