Footwear article with collar elevator
OwnerTimothy P. Hopkins, Austin J. Orand +2inventors
InventorsTimothy P. Hopkins, Austin J. Orand, Aaron B. Weast, Peter P. Williams, II
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Abstract
A footwear article includes a collar elevator that returns an ankle collar from a lowered state that is conducive to donning up to a raised state that secures the wearer's foot during wear. The collar elevator may be arranged at various positions among the footwear article, such as above or below a strobel. The collar elevator may be coupled to the footwear article using various connectors. The footwear article may have other features, such as an ankle collar, that are configured in a manner to work together with the collar elevator.
Claims20
A footwear article comprising:
- a sole;
- an upper coupled to the sole and comprising an ankle collar that is movable between a lowered state positioned closer to the sole and a raised state positioned farther from the sole, wherein the upper comprises a material layer that at least partially overlaps with the sole and that includes an outward facing surface facing towards the sole and an inward facing surface facing away from the sole and towards a foot-receiving cavity, and wherein the material layer comprises an aperture extending through the material layer from the outward facing surface to the inward facing surface;
- and
- a collar elevator operable to return the ankle collar from the lowered state to the raised state, the collar elevator having a base positioned between the outward facing surface and the sole and a lever arm connected to the base at a junction and extending from the junction through the aperture.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.