Design support apparatus, design method and upper producing system

A design method for designing a cutting pattern of a heat-shrinkable sheet when cutting the sheet and producing an upper, the design method comprising:

• receiving shoe last data;
• calculating an amount of correction in consideration of a shrinkage direction and a shrinkage coefficient of the sheet;
• calculating the cutting pattern of the sheet, based on the received shoe last data, by developing, on a plane, three-dimensional shape data that conforms to a dimension of the shoe last data, to thereby obtain a shape pattern of the upper, and incorporating the calculated amount of correction into the shape pattern of the upper;
• and
• outputting the calculated cutting pattern of the sheet.

An upper producing system that cuts a heat-shrinkable sheet and produces an upper, the upper producing system comprising:

• a design support apparatus configured to design a cutting pattern of the sheet, the design support apparatus including:
• an input configured to receive shoe last data;
• a processor configured to
• calculate an amount of correction in consideration of a shrinkage direction and a shrinkage coefficient of the sheet, and
• calculate the cutting pattern of the sheet, based on the shoe last data received by the input, by developing, on a plane, three-dimensional shape data that conforms to a dimension of the shoe last data, to thereby obtain a shape pattern of the upper, and incorporating the calculated amount of correction into the shape pattern of the upper;
• and
• an output configured to output the cutting pattern of the sheet calculated by the processor;
• and
• a cutting apparatus configured to cut the sheet based on the cutting pattern of the sheet designed by the design support apparatus.