Composite footwear upper and method of manufacturing a composite footwear upper

A method of manufacturing footwear comprising the steps of:

• constructing an upper having a three-dimensional geometry by
• forming a composite sheet from two or more layers,
• heating said composite sheet, and
• compression molding said composite sheet into the three-dimensional geometry of the footwear upper;
• stitching a sock into said upper,
• placing said upper on a last,
• attaching said upper to a sole, and
• removing said last from said upper after attaching said sole to said upper.

A multi-layer composite footwear upper comprising:

• a first layer of thermoplastic foam;
• a second layer of thermoplastic urethane (TPU) film attached to said first layer;
• and
• a third layer of fabric interposed between said first and second layers.

A multi-layer composite footwear upper comprising:

• a first layer of cloth material,
• a second layer of thermoplastic foam, and
• a third layer of cloth material, said second layer being interposed between said first layer and said third layer,
• wherein thread fibers forming said cloth material of one of said first and third layer extend through said second layer to connect said first, second, and third layers.

Footwear comprising:

• a multi-layer composite upper comprising
• a first layer of thermoplastic foam, and
• a second layer of thermoplastic urethane (TPU) film attached to said first layer, and
• a third layer of fabric interposed between said first and second layers;
• and
• a sole attached to said upper.

A multi-layer composite footwear upper comprising:

• a first layer of thermoplastic foam;
• a second layer of thermoplastic urethane (TPU) film attached to said first layer;
• and a third layer of fabric interposed between said first and second layers,
• wherein said upper is of seamless, unitary construction.

A method of manufacturing a footwear upper having a three-dimensional geometry, the method comprising the steps of:

• forming a composite sheet from two or more layers including
• a first layer of cloth material,
• a second layer of thermoplastic foam, and
• a third layer of cloth material, said second layer being interposed between said first layer and said third layer;
• heating said composite sheet;
• and
• compression molding said composite sheet into the three-dimensional geometry of the footwear upper.

A method of manufacturing a footwear upper having a three-dimensional geometry, the method comprising the steps of:

• forming a composite sheet from two or more layers;
• heating said composite sheet;
• compression molding said composite sheet into the three-dimensional geometry of the footwear upper, wherein the composite sheet is compression molded into separate sections of said upper;
• and
• assembling said sections to form said footwear upper.

A method of manufacturing footwear comprising the steps of:

• constructing an upper having a three-dimensional geometry by
• forming a composite sheet from two or more layers,
• attaching a layer forming an inner liner to said composite sheet,
• heating said composite sheet, and
• compression molding said composite sheet into the three-dimensional geometry of the footwear upper;
• providing a sole;
• and
• attaching said upper to said sole.