Article of footwear with integrally-knitted upper and sole including grip yarn and method of manufacturing
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsAlexander S. Clemens, Michael C. Gorski, Eric Y. Lee, Andreas I. Schoppel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An article of footwear includes an integrally-knitted footwear upper and sole, the sole including reflowed polymeric material of a grip yarn. The ground contact surface of the sole may include the reflowed polymeric material. The footwear upper and the sole are a one-piece, unitary knit construction. A method of manufacturing an article of footwear includes integrally knitting a footwear upper and a sole of an article of footwear, the sole including a grip yarn. The method further includes thermoforming the grip yarn such that the sole includes reflowed polymeric material of the grip yarn.
Claims20
An article of footwear comprising:
- an integrally-knitted footwear upper including an underfoot portion and defining a foot-receiving cavity above the underfoot portion;
- wherein the footwear upper includes:
- a knitted medial quarter at a medial side of the article of footwear;
- a knitted lateral quarter at a lateral side of the article of footwear;
- a knitted tongue secured to the knitted medial quarter;
- and
- a knitted heel portion extending between the knitted medial quarter and the knitted lateral quarter at a rear of the article of footwear;
- and
- a sole secured to an exterior surface of the underfoot portion;
- wherein the knitted medial quarter, the knitted lateral quarter, the knitted tongue, and the knitted heel portion together define an ankle opening at the foot-receiving cavity;
- wherein the knitted lateral quarter extends to form a strap configured to cross over the knitted tongue and secure at the knitted medial quarter to secure a foot within the foot-receiving cavity;
- and
- wherein the footwear upper is free from connected edges of the underfoot portion, connected edges of the underfoot portion and the knitted medial quarter, and free from connected edges of the underfoot portion and the knitted lateral quarter.
An article of footwear comprising:
- an integrally-knitted footwear upper including an underfoot portion and defining a foot-receiving cavity above the underfoot portion;
- wherein the footwear upper includes:
- a knitted medial quarter at a medial side of the article of footwear;
- a knitted lateral quarter at a lateral side of the article of footwear;
- a knitted tongue secured to the knitted medial quarter;
- and
- a knitted heel portion extending between the knitted medial quarter and the knitted lateral quarter at a rear of the article of footwear;
- and
- a sole secured to an exterior surface of the underfoot portion;
- wherein the knitted medial quarter, the knitted lateral quarter, the knitted tongue, and the knitted heel portion together define an ankle opening at the foot-receiving cavity;
- wherein the knitted lateral quarter extends to form a strap configured to cross over the knitted tongue and secure at the knitted medial quarter to secure a foot within the foot-receiving cavity;
- wherein the strap tapers in width continuously from a proximal end of the strap to a distal end of the strap;
- and
- wherein the footwear upper is free from connected edges of the underfoot portion, connected edges of the underfoot portion and the knitted medial quarter, and free from connected edges of the underfoot portion and the knitted lateral quarter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.