Custom fit system with adjustable last and method for custom fitting athletic shoes

A system for custom fitting shoes comprising:

• an adjustable last adapted to be inserted into a shoe with an upper having activation zones made of a heat malleable material, said last comprising a last body, and medial and lateral adjustment elements movably affixed to said last body and movable toward and away from said last body to provide custom width sizing;
• an infrared activation chamber adapted to receive and heat treat the shoe fitted onto said adjustable last until the activations zones are plastic and to set the heat malleable material to fix the width of the shoe;
• a foot scanner adapted to auto-detect reference points of a foot and gather foot measurement data;
• and
• a computer connected to said foot scanner for correlating foot measurement data to adjustment settings on said adjustable last by calculating adjustment factors, the adjustment factors including at least a midsole plug size to provide width adjustment to a midsole of the shoe.

A system for custom fitting shoes comprising:

• a foot measurement device configured to measure foot measurement data associated with a foot of a wearer;
• a database for storing the foot measurement data;
• wherein the database includes an identifier for associating the foot measurement data to a particular wearer;
• a first computer in communication with the database, the first computer calculating at least a shoe length size, a shoe width and an adjustment factor based on the foot measurement data, wherein calculating the shoe width includes calculating a midsole plug size to provide width adjustment to a midsole of a shoe;
• wherein the first computer correlates the calculated shoe length size, shoe width and adjustment factor to a last;
• and
• wherein a first location uses the last to custom fit a first pair of shoes to the foot measurement data of the particular wearer.

A method for custom fitting an article of footwear, the method comprising:

• receiving a plurality of foot measurement parameters associated with a foot of a wearer;
• storing the plurality of foot measurement parameters in a database;
• associating the plurality of foot measurement parameters with a particular wearer using an identifier;
• accessing the database using a computer to retrieve the plurality of foot measurement parameters for the particular wearer;
• calculating at least a shoe length size, a shoe width and an adjustment factor based on the plurality of foot measurement parameters, wherein calculating the shoe width includes calculating a midsole plug size to provide width adjustment to a midsole;
• correlating the calculated shoe length size, shoe width and adjustment factor to a last;
• and
• custom fitting a first article of footwear to the plurality of foot measurement parameters of the particular wearer using the last.

A system for custom fitting shoes comprising:

• a first computer for receiving foot measurement data associated with a foot of a wearer;
• a database in communication with the first computer for storing the foot measurement data;
• wherein the database includes an identifier for associating the foot measurement data to a particular wearer;
• a second computer in communication with the database, the second computer calculating at least a shoe length size, a shoe width and an adjustment factor based on the foot measurement data, wherein calculating the shoe width includes calculating a midsole plug size to provide width adjustment to a midsole;
• wherein the second computer correlates the calculated shoe length size, shoe width and adjustment factor to a portion of an upper and a portion of a sole unit including the midsole;
• and
• wherein a first location uses the correlated upper and sole unit to custom fit a first pair of shoes to the foot measurement data of the particular wearer.