Rear access article of footwear with movable heel portion

#The present teachings relate to an article of footwear having an upper with a rear section that moves by articulating or otherwise relative to a sole structure and/or a front section of the upper.

#Traditionally, placing footwear on a foot often requires the use of one or both hands to stretch the ankle opening of an upper, and hold the rear portion during foot insertion. The fit of the upper is then adjusted following foot insertion, such as by tying laces.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an article of footwear with a rear section of an upper in an access position.

#FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the article of footwear of FIG. 1 with the rear section of the upper in a use position.

#FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the article of footwear of FIG. 2 with a lace further securing the rear section of the upper in the use position.

#An article of footwear has an upper that enables hands-free foot entry into the article of footwear, and includes magnets for hands-free coupling of the article of footwear to the foot. The article of footwear can then be further secured to the foot manually with lace guides and a lace. Within the scope of the present disclosure, the article of footwear comprises a sole structure, and an upper including a front section and a rear section. The front section is fixed to a forefoot region of the sole structure and partially defines a foot-receiving cavity. The rear section is operatively secured to the sole structure at least partially rearward of the front section, and includes a medial wing and a lateral wing. A medial set of magnets includes at least one front medial magnet secured to a medial side of the front section and at least one rear medial magnet secured to the medial wing. A lateral set of magnets includes at least one front lateral magnet secured to a lateral side of the front section and at least one rear lateral magnet secured to the lateral wing.

#The rear section is movable relative to the front section between an access position and a use position. In the access position, the medial wing and the lateral wing are spaced apart from the sole structure with a distal end of the medial wing and a distal end of the lateral wing both remote from the sole structure and further apart from one another than in the use position. In the use position, the distal end of the medial wing is adjacent to the front section with the at least one rear medial magnet coupled to the at least one front medial magnet and the distal end of the lateral wing is adjacent to the front section with the at least one rear lateral magnet coupled to the at least one front lateral magnet. In embodiments with multiple front and rear medial magnets and multiple front and rear lateral magnets, the magnets may attract rearward to forward in a zipper-like fashion to help move the rear section to the use position. Accordingly, the article of footwear with the divided upper portion may enable hands-free foot entry in the access position, while the magnetically coupled front and rear upper sections secure the foot in the use position.

#Lace guides and a lace may further secure the rear section to the front section in the use position. More specifically, in an embodiment, the article of footwear may further comprise at least a first portion of a lace guide secured to the medial wing or the lateral wing. In an embodiment, both the medial wing and the lateral wing have at least a first portion of a lace guide secured thereto. In some embodiments, the lace guide is a unitary component. In other embodiments, the lace guide is a split lace guide, with the first portion of the lace guide secured to the medial wing or the lateral wing, and a second portion of the lace guide secured to the front section. The first portion and the second portion are spaced apart from one another when the rear section is in the access position and are adjacent to one another when the rear section is in the use position. The first portion of the lace guide protrudes outwardly from an outer surface of the medial wing or the lateral wing. Each of the first portion and the second portion may include a hook. The hook of the first portion is in direct contact with the hook of the second portion when the rear section is in the use position. The cavity defined by the first portion of the lace guide is disposed outside the medial wing or the lateral wing. The lace guide may include a first hook portion and a second hook portion. The first hook portion and the second hook portion are in direct contact with one another when the rear section is in the use position.