Process for making a tubular textile article (1), by means of a circular knitting textile machine, destined to represent an upper (U) for footwear, the process comprising the steps of:
- arranging a circular textile machine having at least one feed and a needle holder supporting a plurality of needles, defining a circular needle bed, which can be operated to pick up the threads dispensed by said at least one feed and to form knitted fabric;
- said needle holder being rotatable relative to said feed and said feed being arranged in proximity to said needle holder;
- programming said textile machine so as to define a tubular textile article (1) to be made, extending longitudinally in a seamless way starting from a first open end (2) and consisting of a plurality of stitch rows (W) in succession;
- knitting with said circular textile machine to make said tubular textile article (1), destined to represent an upper (U) for footwear, in accordance with the above-mentioned programming step, wherein the step of knitting comprises at least the following steps:
- A) making the first open end (2), belonging to a first fabric (10) of the textile article, using a needle sector, or all the needles, of said needle bed, said first open end (2) being destined to represent a tip end of an upper;
- B) making a tip portion (3) of the first fabric (10), comprising a certain number of stitch rows and consisting of a stitch bulge (4) obtained using, in successive rows, first an increasing or decreasing number of needles per row and then a decreasing or increasing number of needles per row, said tip portion of the first fabric being destined to represent a portion of the upper suitable for accommodating or enclosing the toe or part thereof;
- C) optionally, making a bulge-free portion of complete tubular knitted fabric (5), along the longitudinal development of said first fabric (10), comprising a respective number of stitch rows and wherein for each row the knitted fabric produced has a closed circular profile;
- D) making a tab (T), belonging to said first fabric (10) and destined to represent a portion of the upper (U) suitable for enclosing or covering at least one portion of the neck of the foot/instep, wherein said step of making a tab (T) involves interrupting the processing of the preceding rows, and continuing knitting using a needle sector or all the needles of said needle bed for a certain number of stitch rows, thus producing a knitted insert representing the tab (T);
- E) making a middle portion (6) of the first fabric (10), comprising a respective number of stitch rows and destined to represent a portion of the upper suitable for enclosing at least part of the sole and sides of the foot, said middle portion (6) of the first fabric (10) having a longitudinal opening (7), destined to be located at at least one portion of the neck of the foot, and two lateral margins (8) on the sides of said longitudinal opening (7), wherein said middle portion (6) of the first fabric is made by using, in operation, a respective needle sector of said needle bed, comprising a preferred number of needles up to a number including all the needles of the needle bed, for a certain number of stitch rows, it being possible to change said respective needle sector for each row comprised in the middle portion;
- F) making an end portion (9) of the first fabric (10), comprising a certain number of stitch rows and consisting of one or more stitch bulges (11), each obtained using, in respective successive rows, first an increasing or decreasing number of needles per row and then a decreasing or increasing number of needles per row, said end portion (9) of the first fabric (10) being destined to represent a portion of the upper suitable for accommodating or enclosing the foot heel or part thereof;
- wherein:
- in steps D and E the tab (T) and the longitudinal opening (7) of the middle portion (6) are made such that they both have a substantially simultaneous longitudinal development, in a direction corresponding to a longitudinal development of the upper (U);
- the knitting step entirely produces the unitary, single-piece tubular textile article (1);
- the steps are performed in succession such that processing is never interrupted between each step and the following one.