Nike, Inc.

Nike International Ltd.

Converse Inc.

Bruce J Kilgore

James C Meschter

Kassio Figur

Fanny Yung Ho

Sara Kilgore

Elizabeth Langvin

David Patrick Jones

Thomas J Rushbrook

Matthew Kilgore

Eric P Avar

Christopher Simon Cook

Tinker L Hatfield

Bhupesh Dua

Pamela Susan Greene

Michael R Friton

John C Tawney

James A Grove

Daniel B DeHaven

Perry W Auger

Daniel R Potter

Paul James Francis

Nancy Dalton

Stephen J Hipp

Christina M Wood

John Hurd

Shane S Kohatsu

Thomas Berend

Matthew Anthony Nurse

Andrea M Vinet

Douglas Alan Beye

Anthony Carl Dean

Thomas P Allen

Eric S Swartz

Gordon A Valiant

Gregory Ross Leedy

Christopher J Edington

Anthony P Daversa

Jennifer L Bishop

Thomas A McMahon

Martyn R Shorten

Daniel A Williamson

Lawrence P Eisenbach

John L Baier

Jessica Anne Junkins

Steven R Castellanos

Michael A Aveni

Kevin W Hoffer

Zakaryae Fathi

John F Swigart

George A Xanthos

Jeffrey C Spanks

William Michael Dieter

Alexandre Baudouin

Michael Hui

Jeffrey C Pisciotta

David Alan Boone

Randall S Wolfe

D'Wayne Edwards

Ciro Fusco

Jianghua Wei

Tina M Casillas

Aaron K Seid

Elizabeth Barnes

Jared S Baggen

Michael A Calvano

Bruce Alan Barney

Robert E Borchers

Jay Meschter

Eric D Rosenthal

Michael Hailey

Chris Edington

Bob Borchers

Lynn O'Mohundo

Kenneth Birdwell

John Joseph Terlizzi

Peter C Moore

Eric S Schinlder

Greg Leedy

Roy Lynn O'Mohunddro

Richard J Petrucci

Thomas McKnight

John A Battista, Jr

An article of footwear flat pattern upper having an upper portion and a footbed portion is provided. The upper portion and the footbed portion are integrally continuous, such that the upper portion lateral side converges with the footbed lateral side. The flat pattern includes nested same-sided article of footwear with a reduced surplus portion there between. The articles of footwear includes the following continuous portions: the first medial side with a toe end, the toe end with a lateral side, the lateral side with a heel end, and the heel end with the second medial side. The first medial side and the second medial side are joined to form dimensional article of footwear.

Footwear manufacturing with a nested flat pattern upper

Stitching is applied to a shoe or shoe component and then printed. The stitching may be formed from a continuous thread. After printing, a portion of the continuous thread may have a different color or appearance from other portion(s) of the continuous thread.

Printing over stitching

A manufacturing process involving a series of discrete operations can be modified by adding, removing, or reordering operations, without design changes to the equipment. The manufacturing process uses a frame comprising one or more alignment tabs. Each alignment tab comprises an alignment element. The alignment element interacts with a corresponding alignment element at a manufacturing station to identify to the manufacturing station the position and orientation of the frame. The frame supports a material in a known position and orientation relative to the frame, allowing the manufacturing station to infer the position and orientation of the pliable material on the frame from the interaction of the alignment elements on the frame and the manufacturing station. The operations at any particular manufacturing station can therefore be positioned independent of what operations, if any, have come before, or in what order.

Agile manufacturing processes and systems

The present disclosure includes embodiments in which a knit upper in an article of footwear comprises various zones having different properties. For example, some zones may include thermoplastic yarns for bonding to other elements of the article of footwear such as a sole or a lacing system. Zones may also possess varying degrees of elasticity to, for example, accommodate a wearer's foot or provide the knit upper with stability. The knit upper may further include a visible or machine-detectable bite line to indicate the intended placement of elements of the article of footwear.

Zoned upper for an article of footwear

A sockliner for a shoe may be formed to include an integral fabric skirt. The fabric skirt may remain loose from the sockliner along at least a portion of the periphery of the sockliner. The loose periphery of the fabric skirt may be used to join the sockliner to other shoe components, as in a strobel-type seam.

Mold for sockliner with integral skirt

A fiber bound engineered material is provided that imparts an intended characteristic at an intended relative location. A fiber layer is entangled with additional fibers in a manner to create a non-uniform engineered material. The lack of uniformity of a fiber bound engineered material may be accomplished through manipulation of the fibers and/or through fiber binding a scrim. The fiber layer binds with additional fibers through entanglement such that a mechanical connection between the entangled fibers is provided. This entanglement allows the fibers to bind without supplemental adhesives, interlacing, or connections. Variations in the fibers and/or inclusion of scrim materials prior to entanglement allows for an intended characteristic (e.g., a functional characteristic) at an intended relative location (e.g., a position determined by an article to be formed therefrom).

Fiber-bound engineered materials formed using foundation scrims

Fiber-bound engineered materials formed using zonal scrims

A molding assembly having a top mold member and a base mold member. The top mold member can include a first top mold portion and a second top mold portion that shift between a top mold open configuration and a top mold closed configuration by rotating about a top mold hinge axis. The molding assembly can shift between a molding assembly open configuration and a molding assembly closed configuration by rotating at least the top mold member about a molding assembly hinge axis.

Molding assembly and methods of using the same

Fiber-bound engineered materials formed using engineered scrims

A manufacturing frame comprises one or more alignment tabs. Each alignment tab comprises an alignment element. The alignment element interacts with a corresponding alignment element at a manufacturing station to identify to the manufacturing station the position and orientation of the frame. The frame supports a flexible material in a known position and orientation relative to the frame, allowing the manufacturing station to infer the position and orientation of the flexible material on the frame from the interaction of the alignment elements on the frame and the manufacturing station.

Manufacturing frame

An article of footwear flat pattern upper () portion () is provided. The upper portion () has a midline reference line () extending between the toe end apex () and a midpoint on the heel end (). The upper portion () also is comprised of an origin () aperture that is located within 10 millimeters of the midline reference line () between the toe end () and the heel end () of the upper portion (). The upper portion () is also formed with an overlay () that is coupled with the upper portion () between the toe end () and the heel end () and between the medial side () and the lateral side (). The overlay () has an alignment aperture () that is aligned with the origin () aperture.

Footwear manufacturing with an origin

Sockliner with integral skirt

Growing community of inventors

Lake Oswego, OR, United States of America

Bruce J Kilgore