Sports shoe with an outer shell of injection moulded plastic

A sports shoe with an outer shell of injection moulded plastic, comprising:

• a front foot shell for accommodating a front part of a foot;
• an adjoining shoe cuff for stabilising a lower leg portion of a user;
• a relatively flexible inner shoe at least partially accommodated in the outer shell;
• and
• at least one elastically flexible portion is a cut-out in the outer shell above the sole of the shoe to reduce pressure points from the inner shoe on a user's foot on exposure to compression stress,
• the outer shell including an inner surface and an outer surface separated by a thickness of the outer shell, wherein the inner surface is arranged towards the relatively flexible inner shoe;
• wherein the elastically flexible portion is provided in the form of at least one membrane element that receives compression stress and is designed to vary a volume or width which the outer shell can accommodate as a function of compression load due to its slackness or ability to deflect relative to surrounding part-portions of the outer shell,
• wherein the membrane element comprises:
• a membrane skin that is at least partially elastic and includes at least one expansion fold which allows for a displacement of the membrane skin by a distance of between about 3 mm and 6 mm in a direction perpendicular to the thickness of the outer shell;
• and
• a support body for the membrane skin,
• wherein the support body includes a frame portion and the membrane skin is arranged on the support body such that the membrane skin is located on the inner surface of the outer shell and extends between outer or externally extending frame portions of the support body.