Nike, Inc.

Other

Converse Inc.

Thomas G Bell

Tinker L Hatfield

Tobie D Hatfield

Eric P Avar

Bryan N Farris

Randall S Wolfe

Mark Goodwin Parker

Ross Klein

John Hurd

Jeffrey C Spanks

Geng Luo

Rory S Blanche

Amy Lyttle

Kaigin Olafson

Julie A Huffman

Troy C Lindner

Olivier Henrichot

Michael R Friton

Summer L Schneider

Christopher Andon

Lysandre Follet

Narissa Y Chang

Adam Thuss

James C Meschter

Kevin W Hoffer

Bhupesh Dua

Andrew A Owings

Shane S Kohatsu

Robert C Williams, Jr

Thomas J Rushbrook

Michael S Amos

Scott C Holt

Sam Amis

Paul James Francis

Ricardo Salinas, Jr

Claudio Innocente

Brooke P Rapf

Chip Jones

Carl L Madore

Thomas C Foxen

Tory Michael Cross

Brian D Baker

Andrea M Vinet

Michael D Collier

Risha Dupre

Gordon A Valiant

Julia Roether

Daniel William Peter

Jay T Worobets

D William Giroux

Dustin Hatfield

Leslie Barnes

Kendall J Kelly

Gary L Patburg

James N Ferry

Conway P Narby

Caitlin Vultaggio

Christopher Mellick

Morgan Stauffer

Robert M Bruce

TaeYong Lee

George A Xanthos

Alexandre Baudouin

James Y Yoo

Elizabeth A Kilgore

Yoon Jeong Choi

Yuchung K Chen

Hannah Rose Amis

Blake Rhulen

Frank T Brown

Adam R Farmer

Troy C Linder

Megan Foley

Brandon J Wilen

Oliver Mclachian

Ground-engaging components for articles of footwear include an outer perimeter boundary rim that at least partially defines an outer perimeter of the ground-engaging component, wherein the outer perimeter boundary rim defines an upper-facing surface and an opposite ground-facing surface. The outer perimeter boundary rim defines an open space at least at a forefoot support area of the ground-engaging component. A matrix structure extends from the outer perimeter boundary rim (e.g., the ground-facing surface and/or the upper-facing surface) and across the open space at least at the forefoot support area to define an open cellular construction with plural open cells across the open space at least at the forefoot support area. The matrix structure defines one or more sets of adjacent open cells, the set(s) including at least three open cells that are substantially aligned in the forefoot support area along a line extending in a forward medial-to-rear lateral direction.

Ground-engaging structures for articles of footwear

Aspects of the present invention relate to a dynamic woven material that is capable of undergoing a dimensional change in response to an external stimulus. The dynamic woven material comprises a plurality of discrete woven cells, where each woven cell comprises a reactive region and a non-reactive region. The reactive region changes from a first physical state to a second physical state when the woven material is exposed to the external stimulus. The woven material may be formed with zonal stretch properties by varying the areas occupied by the reactive region and the non-reactive region in each woven cell. For example, the bigger the area occupied by the reactive region in the woven cells in a particular zone of the dynamic woven material, the higher the level of stretch in the particular zone may be. Exemplary products manufactured from the dynamic woven material include, for example, articles of footwear.

Woven footwear upper

An article of footwear comprises a sole, and an upper that has a medial side portion extending from the medial side of the sole with a first distal end remote from the medial side. The upper has a lateral side portion extending from the lateral side of the sole with a second distal end remote from the lateral side. The upper may include a support member extending at least partially across the foot-receiving surface with a first end remote from the medial side. The medial and lateral side portions wrap at least partially around a foot with the first distal end securable proximal to the lateral side, and the second distal end separately securable proximal to the medial side. An article of footwear has cables with proximal ends fixed to one side of the upper and that extend through looped cables on an opposite side of the upper.

Article of footwear having an upper with separately securing medial and lateral side portions

A footwear assembly can comprise, an upper, a lace cable, a plurality of lace guides and a tensioner. The tensioner can comprise a tensioning member secured to a side of the upper proximate a toe box and the lace cable, and a floating overlay attached to a side of the upper proximate a toe box and the lace cable. The tensioning members can comprise an elastic member. The tensioning members can be configured to provide a stiff lockout zone and an elastic stretch zone.

Automated footwear platform having lace cable tensioner

A footwear assembly can comprise, an upper, a lace cable, a plurality of lace guides and a tensioner. The tensioner can comprise an elastic member extending between two lace guides of the plurality of lace guides, an elastic member extending between first and second portions of the upper, an elastic member extending between a portion of the upper and a lace guide of the plurality of lace guides, a heel channel connected to a heel portion of the upper and configured to facilitate access to an interior space, an elastic member coupled to the footwear assembly that functions to smooth out a torque versus lace displacement curve during tightening of the lace cable.

Automated footwear platform having upper elastic tensioner

Footwear and sole structures include structures and properties, e.g., to support urban dance and urban dance moves. Such dance styles include various dance moves and movements that require contact between side edges of the wearer's shoes and the dance floor surface (e.g., made from concrete, asphalt, wood, etc.). Such dance styles also require transition of the body's center of mass along the edge(s) of the foot. Footwear and sole structures in accordance with this technology provide structures and properties to support to support such dance styles and moves, including one or more of: selected materials and/or selected material properties in various areas to promote sliding or gliding along various surfaces and/or other desired interactions with various surfaces; selected sizing and/or dimensional features of components in various areas; various flexion promoting structures and/or characteristics; etc.

Sole structures having multiple hardnesses and/or flex promoting structures

An article of footwear includes an upper having an enclosure including an adjustment region extending from a first edge to a second edge formed on an opposite side of the adjustment region from the first edge. The upper further includes a cable tensioning guide attached to the enclosure adjacent to the first edge of the adjustment region. The cable tensioning guide includes a first conduit and a second conduit. A cable of the upper includes a tensioning element having a first tensioning segment extending across the adjustment region from the first conduit and a second tensioning segment extending across the adjustment region from the second conduit. The cable further includes a control element having a first control segment connected to the first tensioning segment at the first conduit, and a second control segment connected to the second tensioning segment at the second conduit.

Upper for an article of footwear

A warp knit element for an article of footwear includes a plurality of cell structures that extend from a sole structure to a lacing region of an upper.

Knitted member for an article of footwear

An article of footwear facilitates relatively easy donning and removal, and secure adjustment. The article of footwear comprises a sole structure, an upper secured to the sole structure, and a plurality of tensioning cables having proximal ends fixed to at least one of the upper or the sole structure and extending out of the upper. A strap has a proximal end connected to distal ends of the plurality of tensioning cables, and has a distal end releasably securable to the upper to tighten the tensioning cables. A webbed spacer is secured to the plurality of tensioning cables. The webbed spacer extends between adjacent ones of the plurality of tensioning cables, and the adjacent ones of the plurality of tensioning cables spaced apart from one another by the webbed spacer.

Footwear fastening system

Shoe

Textile Components, such as upper members for articles of footwear, include: (a) a first portion having a first edge, wherein the first edge includes a first portion of material engaged with a first seam support material via a first thermoplastic material; (b) a second portion having a second edge, wherein the second edge includes a second portion of material engaged with a second seam support material via a second thermoplastic material; and (c) structure to engage the first and second edges in an abutting edge joint (such as a zig-zag stitch). The resulting textile components may be lightweight and breathable (e.g., due to use of lightweight upper fabric), having a comfortable fit (e.g., due to the abutting edge joint), while still providing a strong, stable, and durable construction (e.g., due to the presence of the seam support member(s)).

Footwear uppers and other textile components including reinforced and abutting edge joint seams

Ground-engaging components for articles of footwear include: (a) an outer perimeter boundary rim that at least partially defines an outer perimeter of the ground-engaging component, wherein the outer perimeter boundary rim defines an upper-facing surface and a ground-facing surface opposite the upper-facing surface, wherein the outer perimeter boundary rim defines an open space at least at a forefoot support area of the ground-engaging component; and (b) a matrix structure extending from the outer perimeter boundary rim (e.g., the ground-facing surface and/or the upper-facing surface) and across the open space at least at the forefoot support area to define an open cellular construction with plural open cells across the open space at least at the forefoot support area, wherein a plurality (e.g., at least a majority) of the open cells have curved perimeters with no distinct corners.

Growing community of inventors

Portland, OR, United States of America

Thomas G Bell